The Open Cage
by Jonuts
Summary: Sent back in time, a mortally wounded Kyuubi has no choice but to merge with her younger self in a desperate bid to help Naruto and herself survive the coming storm. NaruxHinaxHaku. Rated for language, violence, mature themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**The Open** **Cage**

"I have to admit Naruto, I really didn't believe you had it in you. I'm glad you got to enjoy the gift we left you. How did it feel having to kill your friends? Having to kill Tsunade, the closest thing you ever had to a mother? Having to kill Hinata? Having to kill your unborn child? Just because we needed all nine Biju to enslave the world doesn't mean we can't use the power of eight of them to enslave your home. Pity the Kyuubi protected you from that."

A quick kick to the chest ended the blondes attempt to get back up. Looking up at the Hokage tower, Sasuke couldn't help but smile. "I'll admit, you put up a good fight. You even manged to kill Tobi and three of his pet biju. Not that I wasn't going to kill that man myself anyways. The arrogance of him, claiming to be Madara. No matter. It's fitting that you die here, in front of the seat of power you long wished for. The Hokage seat is even open. After all, you killed the Fifth."

Struggling to get back up, Naruto didn't even have enough strength left to curse at Sasuke. Even the Kyuubi's healing couldn't keep him alive much longer. Heavy burns covered most his body. Most of his clothing had long since burned off. His stump where his right leg used to be was draining blood too quickly. At least his left arm, lost at the elbow, wasn't bleeding. The wound that caused it cauterizing it instantly. The right side of his face was caved in from a heavy impact, crushing his eye, leaving only his left one.

Even after taming her, the Kyuubi just wasn't a match for this fight. The other eight Biju, the entirety of Konoha, Tobi, Sasuke...Sakura...That's where it all went wrong. On the mission to retrieve Sasuke, and she joined him. Together, they killed Kakashi. Naruto only arrived in time to watch them leave with Tobi. The few fights where he had a chance to kill Sasuke, and Sakura managed to turn the tide and keep him healed up. "Of course, I have no need of Tobi's plan. Without him, we couldn't seal the Kyuubi anyways."

Another boot stepped down onto Naruto's heavily burned chest. Sakura smiled down at Naruto, the Sharingan she stole from Kakashi spinning wildly. "Naruto, I wash my hands of you. I'm going to let Sakura kill you. Heh. She used to be the weakest of our team, but she's far surpassed both you and Kakashi. We kept getting stronger, while Konoha kept you weak!"

Reaching down, Sakura grabbed Naruto by his throat and raised him to eye level. Smiling, she activated her Sharingan. "I'm going to tear your head off, just like I did with your leg, Naruto-kun. You'll see your wife and child again in just a moment..." Activating Kamui, the space around Naruto's head began to distort.

**"KIT! Look her in the eye! She's given us a chance!" **

Opening his one good eye, Naruto stared into her Sharingan. What little was left of the Kyuubi's chakra poured out of his eye. Everyone immediately felt the technique go out of control. Or more specifically, be truly controlled for the first time, just not by Sakura. The field quickly expanded to include the all of Naruto and part of Sakura's arm. With a small clap of onrushing air, Sakura was screaming at the loss of most her right arm, the blonde nowhere to be seen...

xxxxx

_'Today was a great day. Jiji bought me ramen AND told me I can start in the Ninja Academy next month!' _Walking down the street, Naruto felt like nothing could get him down now. Having just left the Hokage tower after spending most the afternoon with the Hokage, even the glares he was getting went unnoticed by the happy child. Soon he will be training to be a ninja! _'Then they'll acknowledge me! I'll become Hokage, like jiji!'_

With a loud thunderclap, Naruto looked up just in time to watch a body appear out of the air and collapse on him. His screams, along with the screams of everyone on the street quickly summoned several ANBU from the Hokage tower. The body was a mess, missing and arm and a leg. Blood was flowing too slowly, as if there wasn't enough left to bleed. Most his clothes were burned off, with heavy burns covering his body. The woman's arm covering gripping his throat slackened and fell off, hitting Naruto in the face while he was pinned by the body.

Quickly grabbing the body, none of the ANBU recognized the man, but the Konoha forehead protector stood out to them immediately, his remaining bright blue eye slowly closed as he finally lost consciousness as the ANBU frantically worked to save him. Drawn into his own mind, Naruto knew he was soon going to be dead.

Looking up at the Kyuubi, the cage long since opened, Naruto could see the sadness and pain in her eyes. "I'm dying Kitsune-chan. Even Tsunade wouldn't be able to save me. They took everything from me, and we couldn't stop them. We couldn't stop Sasuke."

**"I'm sorry kit. I did the only thing I could think of. I took her technique, and controlled it. I brought us over a decade into the past. You actually landed on your eight year old self." **Naruto grimaced.

"It's too late for that to help though. I'll be dead in minutes."

Kyuubi shook her head slowly. **"I'm sorry it had to end this way. It may too late for you, but it's not too late for your younger self. I can take whats left of your chakra, and go to the child. . Be at peace Naruto...be with your wife again...I will miss you kit..." ****_and I love_**** you...**She wasn't going to tell Naruto, but she was dying too. Between the wounds from fighting eight Biju on her own, and the drain from the time travel, she only had a few minutes left herself. Unable to save either Naruto or herself, there was only one course of action available to her. To join with her other self, and hope to retain something of her knowledge.

Chakra exploded from the older Naruto, knocking back the ANBU. A mass of chakra flew to the younger Naruto, hitting him with enough force to knock him back right into the Hokage who just stepped out. The short scream he could let out ended quickly. He was already unconscious before he the Hokage even caught him. He wasted no time passing the child off to one of his guards, who ran him to the hospital. Unlike most of Konoha, the ANBU were actually quite fond of the child. The current commander, Kakashi, knowing just who Naruto is, along with the Hokage's attitude towards the child meant they had little choice in the matter but to accept him. His infectious optimism made it hard for anyone to spend much time in his company and not like him. Sarutobi knew he could trust the ANBU with the child's safety. For now, he had to deal with this mysterious body that just attacked Naruto. _This is going to be a long night..._

xxxxx

Looking down at the reports on his desk, Sarutobi was tired. He was certainly feeling his age, and wished once again that there was someone he could pass off the title of Hokage to. He had three reports on his desk. One unclassified, one classified at A-rank, and the last classified at SSS rank. A classification that doesn't exist. A classification used only three times since the founding of Konoha. That he knew of at least. Not even the full authority of the council could access anything with this classification, or even learn of the classification itself.

The first report detailed what was known of the body. The list of damage done to the body was quite extensive, though nothing warranting any sort of classification. The cause of death was listed as unknown. Something killed him before the damage to his body did. Details about the seal however, were most certainly classified. The fact that the body was identified as a 20 year old Uzumaki Naruto though, along with details of numerous tests done to identify the body, is why is classified at such a high level. Every test showed that it was, indeed, Uzumaki Naruto. The seal on his stomach also proved his identity. It was slightly modified, but that seal was without a doubt, the seal that the Fourth used.

The second report concerned the same seal on the 8 year old Naruto. The report detailed the minor changes that happened to the seal, and concluded that the ANBU doing the inspection have no idea what the changes mean. As fortune would have it, Jiraya would be back in town shortly and he planned on sending Jiraya to look at the seal. Sarutobi hoped the seal wasn't breaking. If it was, there wouldn't be anything he could do for the child.

The last report on his desk wasn't classified. It was the medical report on Naruto. High fever, minor burns along most his stomach and chest, a couple broken ribs, a concussion, and every attempt to treat him with medical ninjitsu had failed. There was a note detailing the absence of the usual self-healing the boy displayed, with several references to previous entries in his medical records. The doctors expect him to wake up in the next day or two despite that. Even without the Kyuubi healing him, he still healed quicker than the average person.

Sighing, Sarutobi called in the two ANBU who already knew what was going on. It was going to be a long night of falsifying reports for the council. These secrets were just too big for them to hear.

xxxxx

"Sensei, I've looked through the notes Minato left me..." Seeing exactly where Jiraya was going with this, Sarutobi waved out the ANBU. Taking a moment to activate the privacy seals, he took a deep breath, hoping for the best but fearing the worst. Unrolling a scroll onto the Hokage's desk, Jiraya began pointing out the relevant portions. "According to this, the seal is designed to change like this if certain conditions are met. This is probably the best news that we could have received. A portion of the seal was maintained by the hatred and aggression of the Kyuubi itself. That part is gone. The only explanation is that the Kyuubi itself is no longer a threat. Well, not intentionally a threat to us at least. It's still a 500 foot tall fox that can accidentally destroy a small town by sneezing." Following along the notes on the scroll, Sarutobi couldn't help but smile.

"Jiraya, is this right? It says here that Naruto should be able to draw the Kyuubi's power." At Jiraya's nod, the Hokage couldn't suppress his grin even if he tried. Any way he looked at it, if this was correct, then whatever happened was truly for the best. For the boy, his greatest burden and the greatest threat to him, just became his most powerful tool. For the village, once trained and able to draw the Kyuubi's power, they would have an unstoppable Jinchuuriki. If only the village could accept the boy.

"The only thing I don't understand is how it happened sensei. What really happened? And don't give me that bullshit story you fed to the council." With a nod, he made his choice. He was already prepared to give him the information, even if he didn't ask. Pulling out a file, he passed it to Jiraya. Raising an eyebrow at the classification on the cover, Jiraya wasted little time in reading through it. Eyes going wide, even Jiraya couldn't hide his shock at what he read.

"...I really wasn't expecting that. How can this be true..?"

"We don't know Jiraya. Everything we know was in that file, and Naruto himself isn't sure what happened. His memory is a bit shaky on just what happened, but he whatever happened didn't change Naruto himself. If what you said about the seal is accurate though, I'm worried." Pointing at the autopsy report "The amount of chakra he could wield is...high. It's estimated to be more than that of all the Kage's combined, and that's the conservative number. The side effects of sage chakra is there too, or so they suspect. For obvious reasons, we couldn't go out and get second opinions on the findings. Even with that, and the power of the Kyuubi to call upon, something left him in this condition. What I've planned for him, to let him go to the academy and become a ninja with the rest of his age group...I'm going to have to change."

Standing, the Hokage turned to look out his window, admiring the view of the Hokage monument. "Jiraya, whatever happened to him in twelve years, I suspect very few of us survived. I don't know how he came back, but whatever happened between him and his younger self, I'm sure it was meant to help him be stronger, to be ready for this. I could only wish he was alive to answer these questions."

"Sensei, let me train the boy. If we can get him a head start on training, he might be able to stop this, whatever it was. Not only that, I've seen how the people here talk about my godson. The ANBU can't be there to protect him forever, and even after all this time, the anger and hatred for him because of the Kyuubi is only getting worse. Let me take him with me from the village. I'll make him my apprentice."

Slowly, Sarutobi shook his head. "No Jiraya. The boy isn't even 9 yet. If you take him as an apprentice, you'll paint a bulls eye on him. Only the most dense of shinobi would fail to make the connection of his parentage if you were to make him your apprentice. The resemblance is already strong. I ask that you offer what help you can to train him when you can. Even under your care, I doubt he'd live very long out of the village. The boy is your godson, start treating him as such. Once he's strong enough to survive, you can take him as an official apprentice."

Jiraya wanted to argue, but was forced to admit that he was right. If he took an apprentice that couldn't defend himself, it was almost a guarantee that the other villages would assassinate him. Even Jiraya couldn't guard him every hour of every day for however long it would take. "He'll be a good student for you when you're in town Jiraya. He tried to hide it, but coming face to face with his future self, even if he didn't know it, left him scars. Unlike almost every other child training to be a Ninja, he's seen the price of failure, and taken the lesson to heart. Instead of being overcome with fear, he only gave him resolve. He knows this isn't a game, and is still determined to walk the path."

xxxxx

The past few weeks were, for the most part, the most boring Naruto could remember. He's never had to stay in the hospital this long before, recovering overnight from much worse injuries. Naruto wasn't sure just what happened to him, and no one else really knew either. The last thing he could remember was being hit with a falling body. The smell of the burnt flesh was still fresh in his mind, the look of pain on what was left of the mans face haunted his nightmares. Naruto slowly came to understand that being a ninja meant he could end up like that man. It unsettled him and disturbed him to be honest. Greatly. But it left a seed with him. Having seen firsthand the horrific cost of failure in his chosen profession, Naruto was more resolved than ever to take his upcoming training seriously.

At least he had a few guests show up during his stay, and the two ANBU guards posted were friendly, one even getting Jiraya to autograph a book for him. Jiraya, that white haired old pervert, dropped by a few times to keep him company. The first time he showed up with the Hokage, he spent a few minutes looking at his stomach, but Naruto wasn't sure why. The other times, he stayed much longer, talking about life as a Ninja. The way the ANBU guarding him acted around the old man, he could tell they respected him almost as much as they did the the Hokage. The lecherous pervert even left him a few books on Fuuinjutsu, and a scroll detailing a few training programs for him to start while at the academy. Unknown to Naruto, Jiraya tried to convince the Hokage to let him take him as his official apprentice, without much success. That didn't keep him from leaving a few gifts for the boy, in both the hospital and back at his apartment.

"Heya gaki. I see you're already on the second book. You actually understand any of that?"

Looking up from the book, Naruto gave Jiraya a smile and a light laugh, wincing a little at the soreness he still felt. "It's not THAT bad ero-sennin!" Seeing that Jiraya wasn't buying it in the least, Naruto hung his head. "Alright, I may have to read it a couple more times..."

Jiraya's couldn't help but laugh at the kid. "Gaki, you're only 8. If you have to read the book only 'a few more times', you're picking it up better than most full fledged shinobi." Taking a moment to quiz the kid, it didn't take Jiraya long to realize that he really was picking up some of the material. _Kid, you'll be as good as your father at this rate_. "Well, enjoy your night Gaki. I dropped by to let you know I'll be picking you up tomorrow when you're released. I've seen what some of the villagers have done to your place. I may have left a few security seals, and I'll have to key you into them. I don't think anyone will be breaking into your place again anytime soon though!"

Sharing a laugh, Naruto tried to not look too relieved. As much as he hated the hospital, the two ANBU guards that the Hokage assigned meant he could sleep here without fear, unlike at home. "Thanks Ero-sennin. Since you're leaving this early, I'm guessing the nurse is getting off?"

"Hahaha. You're a sharp one kid. The one on the third floor is real cute, and quite interested in hearing about my heroic deeds! One of these days gaki, I'll teach you all about the fairer sex. Life is too short, so live it up while you can!" With another bark of laughter, Jiraya left to go meet up with a nurse. Shaking his head, Naruto went back to his book. A few hours later, he finally put it down to go to sleep.

xxxxx

Waking up, Naruto immediately knew something was wrong. Instead of the hospital, he was in a sewer. "Hello?"

**"Hello kit."**

Looking over, Naruto saw a cage, door wide open, with the largest fox he's ever seen curled up. Sitting there in shock, Naruto just stared at the Kyuubi. "wha...wha...how...?"

**"Truly, your mastery of the spoken word leaves me in awe..."** After giving a quick yawn, the Kyuubi put her head back down on her paw.

"Who are you?" Fear was slowly working it's way into the boys head, but hadn't overpowered the shock yet at seeing the giant fox.

**"Let me see. Giant fox. Nine tails. Demon. I'm going to hazard a guess and say I'm the Kyuubi."** _Ok. Kyuubi. I'm stuck in a sewer. With the Kyuubi. Oh Kami I'm in trouble..._

Seeing the obvious distress in the boy, she couldn't help but chuckle a little. **"Don't worry Naruto-sama. I'm not going to hurt you. This is your mind scape, this cage is the seal the Fourth put on you, to contain me."**

_Sama..? The Kyuubi called me Naruto-Sama? Wait, the fourth sealed the Kyuubi in me? _Thinking over his life, Naruto finally understood it. The looks, the whispers. Everyone KNEW. Everyone except him. "Um..the cage is open though..."

**"Truly a ninja of the ages. Your perception knows no bounds. It opened a few weeks ago, but something happened. Instead of escaping and destroying everything, I was overcome by...something. Whatever it was freed me. I am myself again. Except, I feel as though I've forgotten something. Something important. And yet, it feels like it was something I never knew."**

"How could you forget something you never knew, and you arern't going to try and destroy Konoha again?"

**"That is the question. I'm unsure how I could forget something I never knew. As for destroying everything, I never had any such desire. It wasn't by my choice that I was here years ago. Something in me though...it tells me to stay with you. To protect you and help you. Something I never knew, and something I forgot. The seal on you is meaningless, I have an open door. I can walk out of here, and wash my hands of you. But this feeling is too strong. Lets keep this our little secret however..."**

xxxxx

Waking up in the morning, Naruto was excited. What few injuries he still had healed up overnight. The conversation with the Kyuubi went on for a few hours. She didn't know what happened, or how it happened, but she was sure of a few things. Her unwavering certainty that Naruto was her master left both of them uneasy. Having broken free of the control she was under, Kyuubi was understandably fearful that she might have fallen into another. She was also extremely insistent that Naruto tell no one that the seal is now an open doorway.

The reason he was truly excited however, was because she was going to help teach him. Before leaving, she already got him started on his education. He knew more about chakra after that meeting than most genin probably did. She also told him, in probably more detail than he needed, about his chakra system in particular. Thanks her, he had more Chakra at 8 than most chuunin and some Jounin had, and his chakra was only going to grow from here.

Naruto wasn't up for more than half an hour before Jiraya showed up with a nurse to pick him up. It didn't take long for him to get discharged. Naruto and Jiraya wasted no time leaving heading out to Naruto's house. "Alright gaki, if you keep up with your fuuinjutsu, I expect you to remove my seals and replace them with your own sometime. The ones I put up are only good for a couple years. Lets get you keyed in now. After that, I have to leave. I've already stayed in the village longer than I should have. I left you a few more gifts, just some items I've picked up over the years. I'm sure you can get more use out of them than I can."

After getting keyed in to the security seals, Naruto gave Jiraya a hug. "I'm going to miss you ero-sennin. Will you come back and visit?" "Hai...that I will gaki. I'll be back for a few weeks a couple times a year. I'll be sure to visit." Saying their goodbyes, Jiraya took off, feeling guilty. He should have been watching over the boy more often. He hadn't even spoken to the kid until sensei had him look at the seal. He was determined to make it up to the kid, even if Naruto didn't know, couldn't know, that Jiraya was his godfather.

Meanwhile, Naruto looked over his apartment and noticed it was quite different. He had new furniture. Most notably, a weapon rack, a book shelf, and a scroll shelf. The weapon rack had several weapons in it. A katana, wakizashi, tanto, ninja-to, and a naginata. Everything but the tanto and ninja-to was much too large for him to even hold right, and the ninja-to was closer to a longsword to him. The book shelf had a large collection of books on a variety of subjects covering Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, Fuuinjutsu, Chakra, and the collected works of Jiraya. Shaking his head, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the orange books. Also on the shelf were a couple other books by Jiraya. The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, and a few more advanced books on Fuuinjutsu. The Fuuinjutsu books were handwritten, apparently not books meant to sold or given away. It was a sign of trust that a shinobi like Jiraya would let Naruto hold such books. Moving to the scroll shelf, he found a few that were definitely far too advanced for him. Advanced taijutsu, elemental manipulation, some of the more advanced chakra control exercises...Jiraya was certainly trying to future-proof his gift. It'll be quite a while before Naruto could learn enough to understand what some of those scrolls had.

"Hmm..where to start?"

**"Start with the orange ones kit. You'll enjoy them."** Looking to the side, Naruto stumbled and fell. The Kyuubi was standing by him, though somewhat less imposing than she was in his mind scape, barely coming up to his knees. **"What? I told you I'm free to come and go as I please. Just because I'm staying in you doesn't mean I don't feel like stretching my legs on occasion. Don't worry, I can't fully manifest outside of you, so you don't have to worry about a five-hundred foot tall fox playing fetch in the middle of Konoha."**

"Haha...you just surprised me Kyuubi-chan. I really wasn't expecting you to do that. Why the orange ones?" Getting up, Naruto pulled down the first Icha-Icha book. "Well, I can see why that one ANBU is always giggling while reading this book..."

**"Naruto. Your social abilities leave a great deal to be desired. You'll probably learn more that you need to know to actually live your life in those books than anywhere else. Disturbingly well written too. *cough*andIenjoythem*cough*" **

"The mighty Kyuubi...a pervert. What the hell happened to my life? You're not gonna stop bugging me until I read them, are you?" Shaking his head, Naruto knew he didn't have much choice in the matter and started reading the book.

xxxxx

The next few years went by pretty quickly. Between the bits and pieces of training that Jiraya would give Naruto when back in town, and the teaching and training from the Kyuubi, the Ninja academy was a joke, though no one realized just how good Naruto was. Both Jiraya and the Kyuubi advised him to keep his showing off to a bare minimum, and keep his training a secret. Kyuubi couldn't explain it, but she made her distaste of both Sasuke and Sakura known quite vocally to Naruto. As a result, he did his best to stay away from them. If she didn't trust them, Naruto didn't want anything to do with them. Truth be told, once he looked past Sakura's looks, her shrieking about Sasuke all the time really was annoying. Sasuke's arrogant attitude wasn't winning him any friends either, but at least he seemed to have the skills to back his attitude up. Sasuke really was starting to improve at a fantastic rate, being pushed by Naruto's own performance in class.

His second year, during training with Jiraya, the old pervert caught Hinata stalking her crush. He had to admit, her skill at tracking and remaining hidden were quite impressive. He barely even noticed her. Naruto hadn't noticed her yet, and the way he was trying to run up the tree, it was unlikely he ever would.

"Hey gaki. Take a breather." To quick for anyone to notice, Jiraya replaced himself with a shadow clone and already circled the Hyuuga. Hinata was too busy watching Naruto, amazed that he was able to run up a tree like that. She knew he was better than he let on, despite him fighting for the top of the class with Sasuke. Even with her Byakugan active, she never noticed Jiraya sneak up on her. "You know, it'd be easier to walk up and say hello to him. He won't bite."

Giving a startled yelp, Hinata fell down. Blushing furiously, she was trying to not pass out. "Ah..um..ano..." Noticing that the Jiraya next to him was a shadow clone, Naruto kicked him to dispel it and walked over to the voices.

"Hey! Ero-Sennin! Whats going on?" walking past a few bushes, he saw Hinata on the ground, looking nervous.

"Ah..um...hello Naruto-kun..." Hinata was blushing furiously, looking like she was trying to not pass out.

"Hey! Hinata-chan! What you doing out here?" Smiling down at the kids, Jiraya got an idea.

"Hey gaki, lets call it a day. How about I treat you two to some dinner? There's a new barbeque place that wasn't here last time I was in town." It took a little prodding, but he finally got both the kids to agree. Naruto wanted ramen (which Jiraya was really starting to despise, since it's all Naruto wanted to eat) and getting full words from the shy Hinata proved it's own unique challenge. Naruto, cued in both by the Icha-Icha books and Kyuubi, didn't take long at all to pick up on Hinata's crush. His treatment in the village was the same as ever, so he was quite happy to have her company.

Over the next two years, Naruto trained with Hinata as often as she could get away from home, and both trained with Jiraya whenever he was in town. By the time the graduation test came around, she was by far the best kunoichi of the class. Her father turned a blind eye to her frequent disappearances, more than happy to let his daughter spend time with Naruto. Her relationship with the boy did for her what he failed to do as her father. It gave her confidence, and a source of strength. The major clan heads all knew exactly who Naruto was, and knew he was also being trained as Jiraya. Hiashi couldn't have set it up better if he tried. Naruto didn't know it yet, but he already had his blessing to marry his daughter...in a few years.

Finally, it was the day of the graduation exam.

xxxxx

**A/N: ****Re-uploaded with some formatting fixes and a few other minor fixes. Critiques and reviews appreciated. Expect chapter 2 to be up in a few hours. Minor note: This fic isn't going to concentrate ****on bashing Sasuke and Sakura. That's not saying they won't be roughed up some, but if you want unashamed bashing, you'll be disappointed. They're just too perfect for my uses to make them the butt monkeys :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Graduation Day**

Finally. It was the day of the graduation exam. Waking up with a yawn and his door banging open, Naruto yawned. "Naruto-Kun! Are you up yet?" Hinata was there when Naruto set up his own security seals, and was keyed into them. The only other people keyed in were Jiraya and the Hokage, both of which were quite impressed with his seals. His Fuuinjutsu was almost as good as Jiraya's.

"Hinata-chan? Aren't you a bit early?"

Hopping onto his bed, Hinata threw her arms around Naruto and gave him a kiss. "Maybe a little early Naruto-kun. I'm just excited! After today, we'll officially be ninja!"

Wrapping his arms around her, Naruto returned the kiss. "Hopefully we can be on the same team too. I wonder what our sensei will be like? He can't be anywhere as good as Jiraya though. Let me take a shower, and no peeking with your Byakugan!" Hinata's blush told him that she had been planning on doing just that, not that he would be able to stop her even if he wanted to.

After a quick shower, Naruto threw on a pair of light black pants and a matching shirt before he came back into his living room to a blushing Hinata. "You peeked again, didn't you?" With a slight nod, Naruto just laughed. Personally, he blamed the Icha-Icha books. Hinata had her own stack on a shelf, next to Naruto's collection. Personally signed to Hinata by the author himself. Really, the two were still too young for such thing, but Jiraya was about as irresponsible of a role model as you could possibly get. Naruto suspected Hinata's father would be less than pleased at the influence Jiraya had on his daughter.

The rest of the apartment looked quite a bit different from a few years ago as well. He had a few more book shelves, filled with more books that Jiraya brought him from all across the elemental countries. There were a couple extra weapon racks, and Hinata even claimed a small part, having a pre-packed bag for emergencies and her own weapon rack. Her Kenjutsu wasn't nearly as good as Naruto's, but it was good enough that she could fall back onto a ninja-to or tanto if she couldn't make use of her Jyuuken, or to defend against against thrown weapons. A desk held all of Naruto's sealing supplies. Ink, brushes, several scrolls, a stack of empty tags. A few references were sitting open on the desk as well.

Naruto grabbed a couple of weapon pouches, attaching on to his right leg and back left hip. Another pouch on his back right hip carried his mobile sealing supplies along with a small stack of tags. Finally he attached a ninja-to and a tanto to his back. The tanto was angled down and to the left, to be easily drawn with his off-hand, while the ninja-to was angled up and to the right, for an overhead draw with his right arm. Most the shinobi would leave him alone these days, especially when he was with Hinata. Few were willing to court the ire of the Hyuuga clan by attacking the heiress or someone in her company, but there have still been a few incidents, leaving Naruto to prefer to stay prepared. Hinata grabbed her own pair of tanto's as well, attaching them to her back under her jacket. One was angled down and to the left, the other down and to the right. At a casual glance, only a trained shinobi would even notice she was armed.

Pausing for a minute before heading out for breakfast, Naruto made a few shadow clones to read over some books while he was gone, and Hinata did the same. Against Jiraya's advice, he taught her the technique, though she couldn't make more than just a few, and even then, they'd only stick around for at most an hour. Even with those limitations, leaving a few to read through Naruto's books while she was at the academy helped her improve a great deal, even if she was too exhausted in the morning to really pay attention in the Academy. It was doing wonders for her chakra supply too. When she first started, she could only make one shadow clone, and it wouldn't even last a minute. Even now, it took too much out of her to use them for anything but reading or light training. Practicing forms? Yes. Sparring? Not a chance. They took too much to make, and even then, were far too fragile.

Heading to Ichirakus, the two enjoyed a good breakfast. Hinata loved Naruto dearly, but his ability to inhale bowls of ramen by the dozen disturbed her on some level. "Naruto-kun..where does all that ramen go?"

Teuchi and Ayame couldn't hold back their laughter at the boys blush. "So Naruto, you're taking your graduation test today, right?"

"That's right Ayame! First step to becoming Hokage! Every time I see Jiji, he tells me he's ready to retire. So I'm gonna take that hat so he can enjoy his retirement!" Earning himself another round of laughter, the couple paid for their ramen and headed to the academy. After the training from hell that Jiraya put them through when he was in town, the graduation exam would be a joke.

xxxxx

The first part of the graduation exam was even easier than they expected. A written test covering some of the basics. What is chakra? How is it formed? What are the elements? A few of the questions were probably beyond most the class, but the overwhelming majority were painfully basic. Both Hinata and Naruto aced the test.

Next was the taijutsu exam. Hinata aced it with her Jyuuken, while Naruto went a bit above and beyond. Taking up a kickboxing stance, he launched a brutal roundhouse at the chuunin instructors head. Despite blocking it, the instructor was knocked off balance and left helpless when Naruto gripped his arm an launched himself, driving his knee into the instructors head while pulling his arm out the way. Knocking the instructor flat out in less than three seconds was enough to make the entire class stare at him. "Ah...whoops?" Iruka could only facepalm as Mizuki started to wake up.

The Ninjutsu exam was also well below the abilities of Hinata and Naruto. **"Don't do it kit. Don't do it. You're going to do it, aren't you? Why do I even try..."**

"Naruto Uzumaki." Holding an icepack to his head for the swelling, Mizuki glared at the boy. "Alright, show us a Bunshin."

Smiling, Naruto decided to go above and beyond the call, once again. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" A full two dozen shadow clones appeared. Twenty-five voices called out as one. "How's that sensei?" The entire class went silent, staring at the boy again. Even Sasuke only made twenty clones.

Iruka could only facepalm again. He long suspected that Naruto was holding back, but he didn't think he was holding back anywhere near that much. "Naruto...I'm half tempted to fail you for that. Where the hell did you learn to make shadow clones?" Scratching his head, Naruto smiled brightly. "Never mind, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. Now do a henge."

Twenty-five blondes moved as one making a hand seal, to be replaced with twenty-five distinct ninja, from all five of the major hidden villages. Of course, Naruto couldn't just stop there. They all quickly turned on each other, turning into a massive brawl in the middle of the classroom. Since one solid hit dispels the shadow clones, it was a pretty short fight, with the only survivor being the Fourth Hokage. "Was that good Iruka-sensei?" Both Mizuki and Iruka were too busy trying to make sense of what they just saw to respond.

**"Yup. You did it. Now everyone in the class is going to bug you about that..." **_'Did you see their faces though? TOTALLY worth it!"_

After the exam, Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were tied for the highest score, all three acing the exam, even if the other two weren't nearly as flashy about it as Naruto. "Congratulations on passing the exam. In three days, report back here at ten, and you'll be assigned teams then. I'm proud to have had such a talented class this year, and I know you'll all continue to make me proud."

Getting their forehead protectors, Naruto and Hinata wasted no time putting them on and heading out to celebrate. Several of the other graduates were quick to join them. "Hey, how about Ichiraku's?" Choji was quick to shoot that down and suggest barbeque. Ino, Hinata, and Kiba were quick to agree, while Shikamaru just shrugged, finding the argument too troublesome and Shino had no preferences. Being outvoted, Naruto had no choice but to go along for barbecue.

After his performance on the graduation test, everyone was asking him the entire time about how he got so strong. They never even heard of solid clones before. Kyuubi's prediction played out all too accurately. Before long Naruto was wishing he skipped dinner with his friends. **"And that is why you don't show off in front of everyone you know..."** _"Ok, fine, it was a stupid idea. It was still worth it!"_

xxxxx

Mizuki had enough. He wasn't going to let the demon just go on to be a shinobi. He couldn't fail him. Even the council couldn't make that fly with his scores. He couldn't fail him, but he could kill him. Smirking, Mizuki went to get a few others. Some folks he knew would be more than happy to help kill the boy. Afterwards, he could dispose of them himself, and come out a hero. Maybe finally he could get out of this dead end instructor job and get the promotion he's long since deserved. What he didn't expect, was how much help his subtle recruitment would get him.

xxxxx

Sarutobi had to admit, this was definitely one of the worst council meetings of his life. He already had a migraine from it. Homura and Koharu, his advisers and Uchiha Sasuke's guardians, were determined to make his evening a living hell. The entire backing of the civilian council only made it worse. Teams were to be assigned, but everyone seemed to be arguing. The Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans wanted their kids on the same team, a second coming of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. That was one of the few teams that didn't raise any objections from either side of the council. Asuma had already been convinced to take the team by their parents, so there were no issues at all.

No, the real headache came with the top three of the class. Kakashi resigned from the ANBU commander position with the Hokage's blessing to become a Jounin instructor for one purpose, to train Uzumaki Naruto. He wasn't very concerned with who the other two members of the team were, though preferred Hinata as one. The council immediately shot that down. With the entire civilian council, the Uchiha vote from the advisers holding the seat until Sasuke comes of age, along with the single vote wielded by the advisers, Kakashi couldn't get Naruto. Instead they tried to saddle him with Sasuke over his protests.

Jiraya, having just gotten back in town too late to attend Naruto's graduation, was almost ready to start throwing councilors out the window, pushing for Kakashi to take on both Naruto and Hinata. Since Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke were the top three of the class, the council argued that all three should be split. Kakashi being the only one with a Sharingan was the only Jounin qualified to train Sasuke, and as such, Kakashi couldn't train Naruto and Hinata would have to be split from him. Hiashi argued that Naruto and Hinata were practically a team already, and splitting them break one of the best team dynamics in the leaf.

Kakashi and the Hokage made the case that since the paperwork discharging Kakashi from the ANBU wasn't finalized yet, he didn't HAVE to accept a team and another Jounin could replace him, while the council argued that finalized or not, he already signed up to be a Jounin instructor and couldn't back out. The argument was legally dubious, but not clear cut enough to dismiss out of hand. Sarutobi was tired enough of the bickering from the civilian council, that he was starting to entertain the thoughts of a Hokage sanctioned coup and killing them, along with his advisers, just so Konoha could function again. Before he could do more than smile at the bliss of such a thought, a team of ANBU entered the council chambers. "Hokage-Sama! Naruto, and the clan heirs were attacked! They're currently being transported to the hospital." Sarutobi had to admit, every time he thought it couldn't get any worse, Kami would find a way to deliver. If it wasn't so serious, it would have been funny.

xxxxx

After dinner, the group moved to Naruto's apartment building. Technically, Naruto owned the entire building, even if he only lived in one of the apartments. After the previous owner was arrested for trying to break into his Naruto's apartment a few years back, the first tester of Jiraya's security seals, the Hokage confiscated the building and gifted it to Naruto. No one else wanted to live in the same building as the 'demon', leaving Naruto a great deal of free space. One of the apartments had a bed and few possessions of Jiraya, who was never one to turn down a free bed while in town instead of having to pay for a hotel. Being otherwise empty, the apartment building was a frequent gathering for the group. With the help of his friends, Naruto had knocked down a few walls turning the bottom floor into a hang out for a large chunk of his class, entertaining company once or twice a week, usually with food provided by the Akimichi clan. It was only fitting since Choji probably ate more of the food than the rest of the group combined.

"I wonder whats taking the council so long. Daddy usually isn't gone this long after graduations." Ino was leaned over the couch resting her chin on Shikamaru's head.

"Troublesome woman...Where did Naruto go?"

Opening another bag of chips,Choji took a break from inhaling them for a moment. "I'm pretty sure he went outside with Hinata."

"Man, Naruto's so lucky to have a girl like Hinata. Ain't that right Akamaru?" Sitting on Kiba's head, the dog gave out an agreeable bark.

"There's something wrong." Everyone turned to Shino. "Sasuke and Naruto are fighting." That was new as far as the group was concerned. They knew he didn't get along at all with either Sasuke or Sakura, and the feeling seemed to be mutual, but it's never come to blows before. Everyone looked towards the door when they heard the scream. That wasn't Naruto, Sasuke, or Hinata. Within a heartbeat everyone was on their way out.

xxxxx

"It's such a beautiful night out Naruto-kun." Hinata and Naruto were sitting in the grass outside enjoying the beautiful night sky, snuggled up to eachother. "I hope we're on the same team. I don't want to leave your side."

Looking into her eyes, Naruto gave her a quick kiss. "Don't worry Hinata-hime. Even if we aren't on the same team, you'll always be by my side, and I by yours. Even Shinigami-sama himself couldn't keep me from you."

"Don't make me puke Naruto." Sasuke came walking into the field, followed by a nervous looking Sakura. Down a ways, Naruto saw another shape moving, but it went out of sight. Assuming it was just one of the ANBU that swing by on occasion to make sure he's alright, Naruto ignored it. "And to what do we owe this pleasure teme?"

"Just how strong are you Naruto? We've always been neck and neck, but your performance during the graduation exam was completely different from before. How strong are you?" Sighing and giving Hinata's shoulders a squeeze, Naruto shook his head.

"Even if you asked nicely, I wouldn't tell you." As usual, the Kyuubi wasn't making any friendly with Sasuke. Naruto could almost imagine he could feel her backing into her cage snarling at him. "Get off my property you aren't welcome here."

"I'm not asking you to tell me, I'm going to make you show me!"

Reaching into his weapon pouch, Sasuke pulled out a kunai while throwing a spread of shuriken at the couple. Hinata immediately rolled to the side and pulled out her tanto. Not expecting Sasuke to actually attack them, she barely got out of the line of fire in time. Coming to her feet, she held her tanto in a defensive posture.

Naruto just laid flat as Hinata rolled out, the few shuriken that didn't go wide flying harmlessly over him. Noticing the fine ninja wire trailing behind them, Naruto smirked. Laying down as he was, the wires missed him completely. As they swung over him, Naruto rolled backwards, onto his feet, coming up in time to kick Sasuke's arm, forcing the kunai thrust to go wide of him. Spinning with the momentum of his kick, Naruto came back around and dug his right heel into...a log?

Shattering the log on his kick, Naruto looked around, searching for Sasuke. "Not bad Naruto. I guess I should get serious."

**"Kit, stop holding back. Just end him already!"** She really didn't seem to like Sasuke.

With another salvo of shuriken to cover his advance, Sasuke charged, meeting Naruto's tanto with his own kunai. Hinata sat back, making sure to keep on guard incase of any stray attacks, but content to let Naruto fight his own battle. She never knew why the two boys seemed to hate each other so much, and wasn't about to step into a fight when she knew Naruto could hold his own.

xxxxx

"Heh. Mizuki! Looks like we aren't the only ones with this idea." Smiling, Mizuki knew exactly who was fighting Naruto. If he had to guess, he'd say Sasuke didn't stand much of a chance at all. Not only was he going to kill the demon tonight, he'd get a chance to kill his whore too, and the most arrogant student to ever go through the Academy. Even better, he was going to be a hero for this. Tragically, he would arrive too late to save the three most talented students of their generation.

"Alright, kill the demon whore first. I want to see his face when she dies." The laughter told him that those with him wanted to see his face when that happens too. "Lets move!" A full dozen shinobi of the leaf moved in for the kill.

xxxxx

Naruto was the first to notice they had company. He'd just spent the last few moments dancing around Sasukes attacks, trying to get something out of this fight, before he saw the first one. The man looked to be about middle aged, and was heading straight for Hinata, sword held behind his back. "HINATA!" The panic in his voice stopped Sasuke in his tracks, clueing him in to the approaching visitors. Hinata wasted no time in activating her Byakugan, spinning just in time to deflect the approaching strike with her tanto...mostly. The blade sliced through her right arm, knocking her off balance while another attacker to drop down from above her. Barely rolling out the way of a dropping axe kick, Hinata rolled back to her feet cringing slightly at the screaming from Sakura, who just got kicked across the lawn.

Watching the incoming attack, Sasuke ended his fight with Naruto and moved to engage the new threat. He was an arrogant asshole, but he was Konoha's arrogant asshole. He wasn't going to let someone walk into the Hidden Leaf and start killing people. Jumping up and back, he ran through hand seals "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" One of the attackers didn't move in time and got caught by the fireball. The other three heading for Sasuke dodged the fire effortlessly. Throwing the last of his shuriken, he caught one more of his attackers before they were upon him. The first thrusted a kunai at him. Catching the man by the wrist, Sasuke spun. The movement over-extended his attacker, bringing him off balance, while moving into an elbow strike into the mans arm. With a sickening crunch, the strike broke the mans arm, bone through the mans arm. With a scream, he dropped his weapon. Instead of letting him go, Sasuke threw him into the next attacker, the one he hit with a few shuriken moments ago. He never saw the fourth attacker until it was too late.

Naruto was panicking. He wasn't panicked enough to freeze, but he couldn't get through the five people attacking to get to Hinata and help her. She was already bleeding. **"She'll be fine! Concentrate on your fight!" **Naruto was being driven hard. Too hard to even make shadow clones. He was being attacked from too many directions at once.

"Hahahaha! Whats wrong demon brat? Not as good as you thought you were?" Blocking one strike with his tanto, and another with his Ninja-to, Naruto was left open to Mizuki's brutal kick to his chest. "Watch as your little demon whore dies! Hahahaha!" Rolling back to his feet, Naruto had to dive out the way of a fireball, while another one tried to cut him off. Instead, Naruto slipped through his defenses and shoved his ninja-to straight into the mans chest. Another blow kocked Naruto away from the dying assailant. Taking advantage of the opening space, he tried to make some shadow clones. "Kage Bun-" Mizuki's knee to his face cut off his technique. "Hahaha! Is that all you got?"

"Mizuki! There's more of them!" Moving his head just in time to avoid a kunai thrown by Ino, Mizuki cursed. The cream of the crop of the graduating class was here. Half the fools he got to go along with this were only genin, and several of them probably weaker than Naruto's backup. They were the heirs of all the major clans.

Only two of the four that went after Sasuke were still moving, but at least Sasuke was down, and judging from the condition he was in, down hard. That he took down a genin and a chuunin before going down himself to a second chuunin was quite impressive. _They'll just promote anyone these days. _Glancing at the three still attacking Hinata, he was getting annoyed at how long she was lasting. A chuunin and two experienced genin. She should have been dead by now. Sakura was just getting up and running to Sasuke crying. He brought his attention back to Naruto just in time to see him slip an exploding tag on to his current attacker, before kicking him off. The other two jumped away in time, but the poor bastard didn't even notice the tag. Mizuki felt bad for whoever had to clean that mess up. "I'll take the demon! Kill his friends!"

"Mizuki-teme! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Another scream from Hinata caught Naruto's attention before he could do anything. Sparing a glance, he could see that she dropped one of her attackers, but was off balance with a few kunai sticking out of her, about to be run through. The rest of his friends were busy with the four attacking them, already half the bottom floor of his apartment building was destroyed by the jutsu being thrown at his friends. "HINATA! NO!" Running through a quick series of seals, Naruto used Hinata for a kawarimi just in time to save her. Immediately trying to dodge, he managed to avoid a serious wound, the sword slicing across his chest. The second attacker immediately moved in to finish the boy off, until a kunai thrown by Hinata sunk into the side of his head. Pulling another kunai out of her leg, Hinata dropped to a knee while Mizuki smirked down at her. "Guess if I want something down right, I'll have to do it myself. Picking up a fallen sword, he began to advance to finish her off until another scream caught him off guard, followed quickly by the body being thrown into him.

Rolling back up to his feet and turning back to Naruto, Mizuki froze. The killing intent rolling off the boy was enough to make his breathing stop. Chakra thick enough to see with the naked eye was coming off him. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" Several clones appeared, all of them rushing Mizuki from several directions. Finally able to move again, he met the first one head on, trying to dodge and counter, he could only manage to trade hits and dispel the clone. The impact was hard enough to make Mizuki cough up blood. The next one kicked him in the face, breaking his nose and jaw, while a third coming from his right kicked out at his knee, breaking it and forcing him to collapse to his knees. A fourth grabbed him from from behind into a choke hold. Finally, Naruto himself kicked him in the chest hard enough to crack most his ribs and dispel the clone holding him.

Looking around for any other threats, and seeing no more enemies standing, Naruto shook off the Kyuubi's power. _Thanks. I don't know if I could have saved her in time without you._ **"I admit, I'm fond of the girl myself. I almost thought I was going to have to step in myself. You let yourself get distracted!"** Cringing at the rebuke, he knew the Kyuubi was right. He was more worried about Hinata than he was about fighting. He wasted too many openings by looking to Hinata instead of taking advantage of them. Looking at Hinata, he cringed again. She was cut up pretty badly, but they were mostly shallow wounds. She was shaking, a terrified expression on her face.

Stepping forward, he took Hinata into his arms, lightly kissing her forehead. "It's alright Hinata...we won. We're alive."

"I...I killed them Naruto..." Wrapping her arms around Naruto, she began sobbing into his chest. "I killed them!"

"No hime...we killed them. We had to. If we didn't, they would have killed us." Holding Hinata as she cried, Naruto spent the next few minutes whispering reassurances to her while the rest of the Rookie 9 were patching up Sasuke and themselves.

Sakura got off the lightest, having been taken out of the fight with the one hit before running to Sasuke.

Sasuke was bleeding pretty heavily, and didn't look like he was going to be moving on his own anytime soon. The large number of cuts across his arms and legs were making it difficult to stop enough of the bleeding, but Sakura was already putting compression bandages on some of the worst bleeding. The sucking noise coming from his open chest wound was scaring her too, but she didn't have anything to cover it on her.

Shino lost his jacket, along with a sizable portion of his hive, to a fireball. He managed to escape with only a few second degree burns fortunately. He was also helping Sakura try and stop Sasuke's bleeding

Ino had a deep gash in forearm along with a few other cuts. Most of the blood on her wasn't hers though. Shikamaru had an arm around her for comfot as she was throwing up.

Shikamaru's head was bleeding pretty badly and already he couldn't see through the blood anymore, but he was more worried about both Ino and Choji.

Choji's right arm was broken, and he looked to be dazed from what happened.

Akamaru limped to Kiba had a few broken ribs he was nursing. Picking him up, Kiba held Akamaru close. Both were shaking lightly, never having killed before.

It wasn't much longer until the ANBU arrived, too late to help with anything but moving them to the hospital and taking the survivors off their hands.

It was graduation night, and the Rookie 9 just won their first battle.

xxxxx

It was a subdued group sitting in the hospital waiting room. Being the least injured besides Sakura, Naruto didn't even bother trying to get medical attention. Without a direct order from the Hokage, most the hospital staff would gladly watch him bleed to death in emergency room anyways. Thanks to the Kyuubi, his wounds had already closed, so it wasn't a problem. He took a seat in the waiting room, crying quietly into his hands. He was shortly joined by Ino and Shikamaru, both sporting new sets of bandages and a few stitches. They weren't even in treatment for five minutes, having minor injuries. Sakura, sharing a mutual dislike with Naruto, sat at the other end of the room.

They didn't want to admit, but both Shikamaru and Ino were a bit afraid of Naruto. They knew most the people in town didn't like him, if not why. They weren't prepared to see a dozen shinobi try to kill him however, and they most certainly weren't prepared for the killing intent he let off at the end of that fight. Afraid or not though, they weren't about to leave him alone after what happened. Ino broke the silence first.

"Naruto. Why did they try to kill you and Hinata?"

"Because they hate me. They hate me for things I never did...They almost killed her, because of me." Slipping an arm around Naruto, Ino drew the shaking boy into a hug. Hinata was her friend too, along with everyone else still in the emergency room. She was still shaking herself, and felt like she couldn't get the blood off her hands from the man she killed.

"Troublesome...the entire council is here..."

The ANBU at the door quickly filled the council in on what happened, going from statements hastily collected on the way to the hospital, along with the condition of the group. One of the civilian councilors seemed to not like what he heard, and yelled out. "Why are you taking that boys word for anything! It's obvious he's responsible for this!"

Tsume, the clan head for the Inuzuka, was the first to point out the obvious mistake he made, by grabbing the man by the throat and lifting him him from the ground. "Are you calling my son a liar? How about Inoichi's daughter? Hiashi's daughter?"

"Put him down Tsume. I'm sure he didn't mean to imply that all our children falsified a report." Choza, the Akimichi clan head, put a hand on the mans shoulders, and gave it a crushing squeeze. "I'm sure he was just confused. Weren't you? "

Before anything else could be said, Ino pushed through the group to get to her father, giving him a hug. "Daddy!" Wrapping his arms around his daughter, he held her as she cried. "It's alright Ino. It's alright. You did what you had to. I'm proud of you."

Shikaku just went to go sit next to his son, the two of them seeming to communicate anything they needed to through silence. The Hokage and Jiraya took the two seats next to Naruto. "What happened Naruto?"

"They attacked Hinata, Sasuke, and me. Everyone else helped and we killed them. They nearly killed her! Because of me! They...tried to kill her jiji, just to hurt me..." Much more quietly, "I had to use the Kyuubi's power to save her. I was too weak on my own..." Both the Hokage and Jiraya looked at the boy in shock. They weren't even certain if he knew about the Kyuubi sealed in him, and here he just admitted to drawing on it's power.

Choji came out next, followed by Kiba and Shino. Hinata was the last one out. Heading straight for Naruto, she sat across his lap, and wrapped her arms around him, crying. He couldn't do anything but hold on, afraid of losing her. A nurse came out a few minutes later, informing them of Sasuke's condition. He was going to live, but it would be a few months before he could return to being a ninja. The damage done was just too extensive to easily heal. He would be discharged from the hospital within a week, if he so chooses, but he'll be in therapy for a few months, at least.

With everyone accounted for, and more detailed statements taken, the council returned to their late running session after arranging for various clan members to pick up the kids, all of whom still seemed to be in shock. Sakura, having no clan, left with the Yamanaka's, to stay with Ino for the night. Turning down Hiashi's invitation to stay at the Hyuuga Compound for the night, Naruto went home guarded by a pair of Hyuuga branch members, Kakashi, Jiraya, and two ANBU. The clans weren't taking any chances with their children's safety tonight, and no one was taking a chance on Naruto's safety. The boy was hurting, anyone could see that. Jiraya was half afraid Naruto would let the next attempt on his life succeed just to keep Hinata safe. A few other ninja from all the major clans would swing by at some point in the night just in case.

xxxxx

"We have to finish up, and it's nearly midnight already. No more arguments. Sasuke will not be assigned to a team until after his recovery. This brings the graduating class for team assignments down to twenty-three. Instead of holding over the two extra, the two extra will be assigned to Kakashi, leaving room for someone to join the team." The Ninja Council was beyond caring, but going to back the Hokage completely on his decision. The Civilian Council was more than willing to go along, because it meant Sasuke would be trained by Kakashi after he could join the active ranks. They would have liked for him to be officially added now, but it WAS midnight. They'd already won.

"Team Asuma will be the reformation of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Team Kurenai will be Kiba, Sakura, and Shino. Following Jiraya's recommendation, and judging from their performance earlier tonight, the two assigned to Kakashi will be Naruto and Hinata." At the immediate protests about the demon, Sarutobi smashed his hand into the table to shatter a chunk of it.

"SILENCE! Call him a demon one more time in this chamber, and I WILL throw you out, through the window! You're so afraid of him being influenced by the Kyuubi, but what did he do when he let instinct take over while fighting? He used Kawarimi take take a sword strike meant for one of his allies! Team Kakashi will be undermanned, therefore the two best graduates will have to be assigned. It is the Hokage's official recommendation that these three teams automatically pass the next test and become full fledged genin. They've already proven tonight that they are worthy of the rank and more than capable of discharging their duties."

Smirks and smiles could be seen across the entire Ninja council. _About time he puts them in their place. The civilians have too much say in ninja matters._ "The rest of the teams have been assigned already. Next, Anko has already given a preliminary report on the interrogation of the two survivors. The specific targets of the assassination attempt were Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto. Every participant was a Konoha shinobi. This is treason of the highest level, and will be dealt with accordingly."

Sarutobi was both relieved by that revelation, and greatly upset. That twelve of his own shinobi would attempt to kill Naruto and Hinata wasn't a comforting thought, but it was better than his first fear of Iwa knowing who Naruto was and sending assassins, or a deliberate attempt on all the clan heirs. There really aren't many shinobi left in Konoha that hate Naruto, where as Iwa would send hundreds after the boy if they knew of him. And if that wasn't enough, they would send hundreds more.

Finishing up the last few loose ends such as a waiver for teams Kakashi, Asuma, and Kuranei to have a few extra days of downtime to recover before being listed as active and thrown into the mission roster, as well as assigning A-rank pay and completion status to the genin of those teams, as well as Sasuke, for the events of the night, the council adjourned for the night.

xxxxx

For a few minutes still, it was graduation night. None of the rookie 9 could sleep. The adrenaline of the night had long worn off, the terror of it had not. They had all almost died several times, and most of them had killed someone. It was with many conflicting emotions that they laid in bed. The necessity of killing the men they fought was certain, their parents were proud of their actions, but the horror of seeing a man die, of taking a life with their own hands, wouldn't wear off. The horror of seeing their friends go down, not knowing if it's just a scratch or if they just died, that horror wouldn't wear off either. It was well into the next day before any of them would get to sleep.

xxxxx

**A/N: Once again, any critiques and reviews will be much appreciated. Still extremely new to this whole deal, and will gladly accept advice. If you notice any errors, let me know, and I'll try to get them fixed. Chapter 3 should be ready in a few days :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**The Test**

A little past noon, Hinata finally managed to drag herself from her bed. After a quick shower, she sat staring at her wardrobe. Other than some formal clothing, the tight clothing she normally wore wasn't exactly modest. She always wore her baggy jacket over it before though, unless she was alone with Naruto, so it was never an issue. Unfortunately, said jacket was ripped to shreds. She noticed that someone replaced her her normal fishnet undershirts with actual mesh armor. The rebuke involved was not lost on her.

With a sigh, she gave in to the inevitable. Taking off her towel, she winced at scars she saw in her mirror. At least most of them would be covered by her shirt. Putting the mesh armor on over her underwear, she put on her normal dark blue pants and one of her more modest shirts. It didn't have the plunging v-neck that most her other shirts did, but it was still a size too small, being one of her older shirts. It made her painfully aware just how developed she was for her age, and was probably going to draw quite a few looks.

Finally ready to get lunch, she found a branch member outside her room, waiting with a message for her. "Hinata-Sama. Hiashi-Sama wishes to speak with you at your earliest convenience. He is in the dojo." With her thanks and a polite dismissal, she sent the man on his way before heading for the dojo.

Hiashi himself was sparring with his other daughter, Hanabi, when she walked in. Standing at the side, she politely waited for them to finish, and enjoyed the match. Hanabi wasn't as good Hinata, but she was also a great deal younger. Hinata was honest enough to admit that Hanabi was the more naturally talented of the two when it comes to the family style. Not that a serious fight between the two wouldn't end in Hinata's favor almost as quickly as it could begin. Being almost half her age left Hanabi at a great disadvantage, one that would shrink with time.

"That's enough Hanabi." Dropping their combat stances, the two fighters bowed to each other. "I need to speak with your sister alone for a while. The rest of the day is yours, though after last nights events, I ask that you take a guard if you leave the compound." Having chased her out, Hiashi turned to his other daughter. "Hinata. We have much to speak about."

"Ano...Am I in trouble father?" She failed to keep the nervousness from her voice, a nervousness she has rarely felt the past two years since Naruto accepted her. She couldn't even keep eye contact, and ended up looking at the ground. Instead of a rebuke as she expected, she suddenly found herself enveloped in a hug from her father.

"No, you're not in trouble Hinata. I'm proud of you. You fought like a true shinobi last night. Ambushed and outnumbered, you fought bravely and killed two enemies of Konoha." Letting her go, Hiashi looked down at his daughter, who looked back up to him with tear filled eyes, still haunted from what happened. "I couldn't be more proud of you than I am now. You have advanced in Jyuuken, that it is time you learn some of our more powerful techniques. Techniques that would have allowed you victory unscathed last night."

xxxxx

All around Konoha, the remaining eight of the rookie 9 woke up to much similar experiences, except Sakura who had no clan to train her. That did little to stop her from training on her own, determined to not be useless next time.

The next two days passed by quickly, with everyone too busy training for much else. When the day came for team assignments, it was a much more subdued group in the classroom than Iruka was used to. The eight members of the Rookie 9, as they're already being called for their performance a few nights ago, were sitting in their own side of the room. They were getting a few looks from the rest of the freshly minted ninja, not sure why they seemed so much less excited than everyone else. Several of the girls were looking around for Sasuke as well. One even shrieked at him, saying he couldn't start assigning teams until Sasuke showed up.

"Sasuke will be assigned a team separately, so sit back down and let me get started here!" Iruka didn't want to admit it, but the attack even had him on edge, and it was starting to show. Having never been yelled at by Iruka like that before, the girl quickly sat back down. She, like the rest of Sasuke's fan club, took it to mean that he was getting some sort of covert assignment. The guys took it as an example of favoritism for the last Uchiha. The eight Rookie 9 looked even more downcast, with Sakura looking like she was about to cry.

"Ahem. Now then. As you know, teams are assigned in groups of three to a Jounin instructor who will take over your training." He could already see that the Rookie 9 picked up exactly what he was getting at. Only a few of the others picked up on it. "Without Sasuke here, the numbers are no longer even. There was some debate about how to assign teams as a result. Normally, the two bottom students would be held back, but the council has decided on a special exemption. It's not entirely without precedent, though I do believe this is the first time it's happened in times of peace. Two of the more proven ninja of the class will be on their own team." Ignoring the shocked looks from most the class, Iruka went on to start announcing the teams.

As more and more of the student teams were announced Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand under the table. Interlacing their fingers, they leaned into each other, hoping to be on the same team. "Team Seven, Jounin instructor Kakashi. Hyuuga Hinata and Uzumaki Naruto." Both couldn't help but give a small cheer at the announcement, with congratulations from the rest of their side of the room. Iruka had to wait a moment for the noise to die down "Team Eight, Jounin Instructor Kurenai, Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba. Team Ten, Jounin Instructor Sarutobi Asuma, Akamichi Choji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. Your Jounin instructors will pick you up shortly. Congratulations on graduating, and good luck!"

As the instructors started filing in, the classroom emptied quickly, soon leaving Naruto and Hinata alone. They didn't mind having some more alone time, but couldn't help a bit of annoyance at how late their instructor was running. It was almost two hours before a head poked into the room. Most his face was covered with a mask and he had spiky white hair. "Naruto? Hinata?"

Glancing at the clock, Naruto and Hinata both raised an eyebrow. "You're here kind of late sensei..."

"Oh, I just got lost walking down the road of life..." The expressions on the two kids told him they weren't buying it. "Meet me on the roof in two minutes." With that, Kakashi left the two alone. Activating her Byakugan, Hinata looked around for him.

"He's waiting at the stair case. I say we take the window." Opening the window, Hinata ignored the drop from the third floor. Grabbing the side of the window, she swung out and stuck onto the wall, held on by her feet. Naruto was right behind her. All said, their trip took less than twenty seconds from sitting in the classroom to sitting on the roof. After another minute, Kakashi finally came up the stairs.

"Cheaters."

"Ninja" Naruto deadpanned in response, earning him a smile in response from Kakashi.

"...Yes, well, time for introductions. Tell me a little about yourselves. Likes, dislikes, hobbies and what your life goal is."

Naruto went first. "I like Hinata and ramen! I dislike people that want to hurt Hinata and ramen! My Hobbies are spending time with Hinata, eating ramen, training, and fuuinjutsu! My ambition is to become Hokage! I'm going to let the old man enjoy his retirement. Also, that IS a Nice Hat." Both Kakashi and Hinata facepalmed.

Hinata went second. "I Like Naruto and the Icha-Icha series by Jiraya! I dislike people that want to hurt Naruto or the Icha-Icha series! My hobbies are spending time with Naruto, training, and reading Icha-Icha My life goal is to star in an Icha-Icha movie with Naruto! Preferably with him wearing the hat. It IS a Nice Hat." Both Naruto and Kakashi facepalmed.

Kakashi went last. "My likes...I don't feel like telling you. My dislikes...I don't feel like telling you. My hobbies...I don't feel like telling you. My ambitions...I don't feel like telling you. But that IS a Nice Hat." Both Naruto and Hinata facepalmed.

"Alright. Meet me at training area seven tomorrow morning at five AM. Your real graduation exam begins then. Oh, and don't eat breakfast. If you do, you'll throw up." Hopping off the side of the building, he left the two alone. Neither Naruto nor Hinata were very worried at all. They knew they were ready for any test he could throw at them. Instead of worrying, Hinata just slid up to Naruto who put an arm around her.

"Naruto-kun...you remember that ANBU that was always reading an Icha-Icha book and giggling? That's him."

"How can you tell Hinata-chan?" Hinata just gave Naruto a deadpan expression. After a few moments she raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to figure it out.

**"Did you really just ask that...?"**

"Oh. Right. Byakugan." Blushing slightly, Naruto tried to laugh it off before Hinata dug an elbow into his ribs. "Hinata-chan, that gives me an idea. You're going to love this!" After a quick explanation, Hinata was giggling.

**"Kit...you really need to grow up." **The simple statement from the Kyuubi might have meant more to him, if the Kyuubi wasn't giggling madly herself.

xxxxx

"Kakashi. Are you really going to test them? You already know they're more than ready to be genin. You saw the aftermath of what that little group did. If you ever showed up on time, you'd know the Hokage already passed them."

Looking up from his book and letting out a sigh, Kakashi just raised an eyebrow. Kurenai was giving him a dirty look for reading his book again while Asuma stood next to her, smoking as usual. "You're not going to test yours? As you said, we all saw the aftermath. I'm more interested in seeing them actually fight. That will tell me more than seeing them in the hospital and seeing the collection of bodies they left behind. It's not like they're actually going to fail, so it doesn't hurt to make them sweat a bit."

Kurenai and Asuma both had to admit, the cyclopean ninja had a good point. It was a bit of an open secret with some of the higher ranking jounin that both Naruto and Hinata trained with Jiraya whenever he was in town, so they were a bit curious about their abilities themselves. Seeing the thoughts behind their eyes, Kakashi gave his trademarked 'Obviously I'm smiling even if you can't see most my face' smile. "It starts at ten, training area seven. In case you wanted to watch..."

xxxxx

Hinata's family training was still eating most of what would have been her free time. The old pervert was sitting in on yet another council meeting, and all his other friends were doing family training as well. The only one left to keep Naruto any company for most the evening was the Kyuubi. Currently, she was curled up next to up her head was in his lap while he scratched her behind the ear. Naruto still couldn't stop thinking about the other night, his thoughts always drifting to how close he came to getting his friends killed, as well as the events leading up to it.

Naruto knew he wasn't the villages favorite person. People have looked at him with hatred. They've looked at him with fear. They've done the best to pretend he doesn't exist. He's even been beaten a few times, but nothing too serious. No one has tried to kill him in quite a few years though. There were a great number of attempts on his life as a baby and toddler, but they stopped long ago. The Hokage made sure to investigate every attempt on his life fully, and the ANBU were quick to make sure someone never got to try twice. The past couple of years though, the looks have been less fearful, and more hateful. Naruto was at a loss to explain this.

**"Whats on your mind kit? You're too tense."**

"Kitsune-chan...why didn't you help me the other night until the last second? We almost let Hinata die."

**"As a lesson Naruto-sama. You are the Jinchuuriki of the mighty Kyuubi, even if the seal on you is no longer my cage, but merely my home that I choose to live in. I will not tolerate a weak container for my power, and the surest way to make a weak Jinchuuriki is to make you dependent on me. If you can't fight without my power, or always rely on me, you'll never get stronger. The weaker you personally are, the less of my power you are able to use. The more powerful you are, the more of my power you can use. To become strong, you must fight your own battles without my power. Unless you are truly outmatched, my stepping in will only hurt you in the long run. If Hinata weren't too injured to defend herself, you would have done fine even without me. As she is important to you, she is important to me. Rest assured that I will not hold back my power if you need it to save those precious to you."**

Naruto could see the logic clearly in what she said, but it didn't make the fear of losing Hinata, or anyone else he knew, lessen any. "You're right I guess. We would never improve if we always relied on you. I just have to be stronger, so I can protect my precious people. And trust in them enough to not let my fear for them distract me..."

What the Kyuubi didn't tell him though, was how much it hurt her to not help him and Hinata. She'd grown to love both of them, as though they were her own kits, and she wanted to make them as strong as she could. She couldn't explain how, or why, but she knew a great deal about the life of a shinobi. She knew that the sooner they were thrown into a life or death situation and had to rely on their own abilities, the stronger they would become...if they survived. She couldn't tell Naruto how close she came to to manifesting before they got control of the situation. She would rather deal with the awkward questions than let her precious kits die...

**"What else is on your mind? You're thinking of more than just the fight."**

"Yea. I'm wondering why they tried to kill us all. I'm wondering why the villagers seem to hate me more now than they used to. The past few months...it's almost like when I was still a young child. They used to be content to just belittle me, or ignore my existence, or just rip me off at the stores. Maybe break into my apartment and vandalize or steal my stuff. But it's getting worse, and I don't know why."

**"I've noticed it as well. I'm not sure what caused this situation. I can only conclude that someone is actively pushing the people to resent you. I wouldn't worry too much about it tonight. You should get some sleep, you have an early morning."**

xxxxx

The next morning found Naruto lounging around just outside the entrance of the Hyuuga compound, chewing on a small meal bar. Kakashi can say what he wants, but until he's a legendary Sannin, he was going to take Jiraya's advice over his. One of the lessons the Sannin pounded into his head was to never skip a meal if possible. A hungry ninja is more likely to make a mistake. A few minutes later, Hinata came back out, dressed to kill. Figuratively and literally. She was again wearing her old size-too-small shirt, and that definitely helped Naruto wake up a little. Without her jacket, her tanto's were in plain view as well. The weapon pouches on her right leg and back left hip definitely looked full too. She also had a small meal bar sticking out of her mouth, having learned many of the same lessons Naruto has.

They arrived at the training area ten minutes before they had to be there. Most of the training area was empty grass or woodland, but for three posts was stuck in the ground, a small river running through it, and off to the side was the Memorial Stone, a stone recording the name of every Konoha ninja that died in the line of duty. The sheer number of names on the stone showed just how short and violent ninja life was. This stone was one of the first things Jiraya showed him. Not very many lived to see twenty. The number of ninja in a hidden village that lived to fifty on active duty could probably be counted on one hand. Naruto couldn't think of a more fitting place to hold the true final exam for a ninja, than in sight of the memorial stone.

Waiting for Kakashi, ten minutes quickly turned into twenty which turned into an hour. "I bet he's doing it on purpose. I got something for him. Hinata, how many explosive tags do you have on you? I don't want to use all of mine if I can help it."

Hinata was quickly overcome with a blush. "Ano...Um...I have sixty of them Naruto-kun. I wanted to be prepared for anything." By the time she was done speaking, she was already looking at the ground and pushing her forefingers together, her usual nervous habit. Naruto wanted to break her of it, but it really was just too cute as far as he was concerned.

Laughing, Naruto quickly took her into his arms and gave her a quick kiss. "Hinata, I love you. Don't ever change. Can I borrow half? I only brought twenty with me..." Reaching into her weapon pouches, she produced a two stacks, one from each pouch. Handing one stack to Naruto, she halved the other stack and reformed two stacks. Putting them away, she was adjusting the contents of her pouches until she was satisfied everything was in easy reach.

After adding ten of his tags to the thirty Hinata gave him, Naruto wasted no time. He quickly made a group of clones. After priming each tag with a touch of chakra, he handed them off to a clone. It didn't take long for all the tags to be hidden. Kakashi couldn't see through the ground, so he'd never see them until it was too late. Hinata, with her Byakugan, could see them and would be able to avoid them. After placing the traps, he sent most of his clones to search the area for traps, just in case. He took two with himself to comb over the area, and quality check the traps. After about ten minutes, he was satisfied that any cursory inspection would fail to find any of the tags.

By this time, the sun was starting to rise. Not having anything else to do while waiting for Kakashi, Naruto took a seat, leaning against one of the training logs. Hinata took a seat herself in his lap, and the two sat there waiting. It wasn't until almost ten that Kakashi showed up. "Good morning Kakashi-Senei."

The completely polite greeting caught him somewhat off guard. Looking at how they were sitting, he could tell that they didn't mind him being five hours late nearly as much as they should have. "Good morning. A black cat crossed my path so..." As usual, both looked unimpressed with his excuse. "Alright, lets move on." Placing an alarm clock on one of the posts, "Alarm set at noon." Holding up a bell, "The test is to get this bell from me. Whoever doesn't get a bell will be tied up to the log, and won't get lunch. I'll eat lunch in front of you. If you fail to get a bell, you failed your mission, and you will have failed the test. You will be sent back to the academy. You have no chance of succeeding if you don't come at me with intent to kill."

Instead of the protests at the announcement he was expecting, Naruto and Hinata just turned to each other, staring at though they were sizing each other up for a fight. After almost a full minute of their stand off, they moved as one. Rock met rock, paper met paper, scissors met scissors. "What are you two doing?"

"Isn't it obvious Kakashi-sensei? I won't allow Hinata-chan to give up so I can go on, and Hinata-chan won't allow me to give up so she can go on. Yet, only one can go on. I can't bring myself to fight her for such a petty reason, and she can't bring herself to fight me for such a petty reason. This is the only way to settle who gets to keep the bell after we take it from you." Kakashi had to admit, he was impressed. Even in this situation, they chose to find a way to work together instead of against each other. Not that he expected anything differently from these two. It was almost a full three minutes before Hinata emerged victorious from the rock-paper-scissors fight. She looked crushed to have won, not wanting Naruto to go back to the academy. Naruto looked happy as can be, knowing that Hinata wouldn't be going back to the academy.

"Alright, now that that's settled..." The two squared off against Kakashi. Meeting the gaze of his one eye. All three hunched over slightly, getting ready to move.

"Shinobi tactic one...Taijutsu. I'll teach you that first." Hinata activated her Byakugan as Kakashi began reaching to his weapon pouch. A slight smile played across her lips. Catching Naruto's eye, she made a hand sign that Kakashi didn't recognize. _So, they even have their own signs. This should prove interesting._ Naruto returned the smile and nodded. As one, they both reached for the weapon pouch on their back left hip. As one, all three pulled out their weapon of choice. An orange book...?

Someone fell out of a nearby tree, but all three ignored it. The standoff lasted for nearly a minute before Hinata's perverted giggle escaped and she flipped a page. Kakashi's perverted giggle followed shortly after. _Kurenai is going to kill me. No. Hiashi is going to kill me...I can't believe she was serious about liking Icha-Icha..._

**"Ooh. The hot spring scene is my favorite part!" **_I could almost swear you're in heat when I read these. Perverted fox!_

**"Like I haven't seen what you and Hinata do. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black..."**_Hey! No one is more qualified than the pot to call the kettle black. After all, you can't truly identify a pervert without being one yourself._

After a few more minutes of the occasional perverted giggle, Kurenai couldn't take it anymore. "KAKASHI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" With a round of dejected sighs all around, everyone looked up from their books. Putting the books away, all three looked at Kurenai like she just kicked their puppy. "Oh, you three can't be serious. We're here to watch you fight, not read porn!"

"Kurenai-sensei, since teams eight and ten are here, do we get to watch them test as well when we're done?" Blushing at being called out by a genin, Kurenai made a stammer excuse before jumping back to the wood line. "I'll take that as a no."

"Think of it as an exhibition match Naruto-kun. Kakashi-sensei, did you at least charge for tickets?" Once again, all Kakashi could do was facepalm. _These kids have issues. What the hell did you do to them Jiraya?_ "Eh, no matter Kakashi-sensei. We'll just make them treat me and Naruto-kun to lunch."

**"You can fight this one to your full ability kit. You would have to channel enough of my chakra to break your body to have a hope of defeating him head on. So use your head."** Giving a silent thanks for her advice, Naruto made a hand sign to Hinata. At her quick nod, their plan was set. Both created a pair of shadow clones.

"Just to make sure Kakashi-sensei, you want us to come at you with full intent to kill?" As soon as Kakashi nodded, all four clones split off, one Naruto and Hinata heading each way, throwing a small array of kunai and shuriken. Naruto's clones took it a step further, making kage bunshins of the thrown weapons. The real Naruto and Hinata threw their own spreads of kunai and shuriken as well, once again the real Naruto making kage bunshins of his shuriken and kunai.

Not taking the time to be impressed, Kakashi kawarimi'd with the Hinata clone to his right, and immediately smashed the Naruto clone he appeared next to with a spinning backhand. The Hinata clone stood no chance under the withering hail of projectiles, but that didn't stop it from throwing it's tanto before being dispelled. Kakashi just caught the projectile, letting it dispel harmlessly in his hand.

Hinata and Naruto both immediately backed off, opening up the distance, while the two remaining clones moved in, this time going straight for Taijutsu. Effortlessly, Kakashi evaded the attacks through a variety of ducking, dodging, and parrying before dispelling both clones in a single strike. Naruto and Hinata were head and shoulders above what is expected of an academy graduate. Enough so that even their shadow clones made for passable genin. "It's going to take more than that to get this bell."

Smirking, Naruto and Hinata made more shadow clones. Three each this time. Once again, they split into Naru/Hina teams. This time ready for it, they prepared themselves to resist being used for a kawarimi. One set stayed back to provide fire support while the other two moved to engage. The mass of shuriken hit a log this time. "Kakashi-sensei is really good at that. I'm kinda impressed Hinata-chan." She could only nod while look for Kakashi.

"He's underground."

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" A pair of hands reached out of the ground, grabbing the support pair of clones by the ankles and pulling them into the ground to their necks. Smiling, the Naruto clone glowed for a moment before exploding. By the time the smoke cleared, there was no sign of Kakashi.

"He escaped. BEHIND US!" Naruto and Hinata both dodged to the side as a hail of Kunai impacted where they were just standing. A pair of quick Kawarimi's with their clones, and they were safely in the back again, letting the clones deal with Kakashi. The last set was moving to the side to flank him. As soon as the first group engaged Kakashi, Naruto detonated the nearest tag. Hearing the sizzling tag, Kakashi dived to the side in time to take nothing more than minor bruising from flying rocks. By the time he rolled back to his feet, the last set of clones were already upon him.

_Hinata's Jyuuken isn't as good as I was expecting..._Playing with the clones for a moment, he also noticed that Naruto never seemed to stick to one style of taijutsu. He was always changing it. It made him less predictable, but it also kept him from excelling. After a few more seconds, he ended the fight by redirecting a kick into the Hinata clone before slamming the Naruto clone into the ground. "You'll have to do better than that."

Again the ground exploded, Kakashi narrowly evading any serious injuries. _This is what I get for letting them set the field for five hours before showing up..._The fight quickly turned into a game of dodge-the-explosion for Kakashi, earning him a few more bruises and light nicks. _Ok. I'm the Jounin. Why am I the only one bleeding?I'm holding back too much, these aren't your average genin. _Looking back, Kakashi had to try to keep his jaw from dropping. There were ten clones of Naruto and ten clones of , a massed volley of kunai and shuriken were thrown. Only this time, the kunai thrown by the Naruto clones had exploding tags. _SHIT! He can clone exploding tags!_ Making a pair of his own shadow clones, all three Kakashi's launched a flurry of shuriken before making shadow clones of the shuriken. It proved enough to deflect the incoming volley of exploding tags.

Moments later, he realized he just got played. Not a single one of the tags exploded. Deciding to step it up a notch, all three Kakashi clones moved in for the kill, moving far too fast for the clones to track. Even Hinata couldn't track their movements with any accuracy as they decimated the clones. This time, there were twenty Naruto and twenty Hinata clones. _This is getting unreal_ Again, moving in teams, they tried to cover each other, each Naru/Hina pair working as a single unit, and each unit working with another unit. It was an amazing display of teamwork...and it didn't help them at all. Kakashi and his two clones tore through the small army of Naru/Hina clones. _How are they not even sweating...?_

With all the clones down, Naruto gave another one of his smirks before detonating more tags. "Ok. I've detonated twenty freaking tags, and I've SCRATCHED the guy. Hinata, we might have to get serious to get that bell. He doesn't want to cooperate." By the time the tags were done exploding, Kakashi could barely recognize the training field. _And it seems Naruto wasn't joking about Fuuinjutsu being a hobby..._Both his clones were destroyed in the explosions, leaving Kakashi alone.

Hinata flashed another hand sign to Naruto, getting a nod. Once again, masses of clones erupted. Thirty of Hinata and thirty of Naruto. Instead of splitting into their usual pairs, the Hinata's charged. By the time Kakashi was done, he could effortlessly predict exactly how Hinata was going to move and attack. He had her entire style down. Again, Kakashi was disappointed in how poor her Jyuuken was.

**"He isn't stupid. Since he hasn't figured it out yet, he must really have a high opinion of you two. Or maybe I'm wrong and he is stupid. He's not even close to serious yet though."** Ignoring the voice in the back of his head, Naruto kept his attention on the fight. This time, his clones charged. They charged with one goal in mind. Suicide. Exploding clones takes a great deal of chakra. Making shadow clones with working exploding tags? Not quite as much if you're the one who made the tags originally.

The first exploding Naruto caught Kakashi off-guard. The only thing that saved him was how much weaker cloned exploding tags are compared to the real thing. Coming back to his balance, parts of his jacket shredded from the point blank explosion, he quickly managed to dodge most the incoming Naruto's. Once he opened the range, Kakashi took most out with a fireball. Turning in time, he managed to turn away Naruto's ninja-to by smashing the flat of the blade with his palm. The real Naruto and Hinata just joined the fight.

Naruto's follow up attacks where somewhat harder to dodge, being more fluid and faster than what his clones were doing, giving Kakashi some slight difficulty. Hinata came in as well. Her first strike managed to actually land, hitting a tenketsu point on his forearm. _I don't believe I fell for that..._ Quickly throwing what he knows of their fighting ability out of his mind, Kakashi moved it up another notch. _I'm not going to be the only person bleeding. _

Ducking under Naruto's next slash, Kakashi came back up, catching Naruto in the chin with a rising palm strike followed with an elbow to the ribs while spinning around Hinata's next attack, catching her in the back of the head with round kick. Before he could press his advantage, he heard a sound he was quickly growing to detest. Another tag about to explode. _When did she...?_

Quickly replacing himself with another log just in time, the tag on his back ended up taking out the log instead. "Too close. She's damn sneaky with those." Seeing Naruto struggling to get back to his feet, and Hinata out cold, Kakashi dropped his guard. "That's enough you two. You both pass." At that announcement, Naruto collapsed back to the ground.

"Ah...oops?" Walking over, Kakashi tried not to cringe at the sight. The boys jaw was definitely broken. His entire mouth was a bloody mess and his nose was covered in blood too. He could see the broken ribs from his elbow even with the boys shirt on. Fortunately, he'd heal.

Looking over at Hinata, she was definitely out cold, her nose broken from the impact her face made with the ground and she had some minor scrapes along her face from the forward momentum. She was nearly twenty feet from where she was standing when he kicked her after all. That was when he noticed she held a bell in her hand and had a slight smile on her face. They were excellent for genin. Definitely better than most experienced genin. But they couldn't took a full force hit from a Jounin. "Ahh...Asuma? Kurenai? Can one of you help me carry these two to the hospital? I think I went too far."

xxxxx

Team Eight and Team Ten were all sitting in the same tree watching the action unfold. As usual, it was Ino that broke the silence. "Hey, how can they make so many shadow clones? Aren't those supposed to take a lot of Chakra?" Kurenai and Asuma knew how Naruto could do it, but were at a loss to explain how Hinata could, and couldn't really answer Ino's question. That left Shikamaru to answer for her.

"Naruto's always had a great deal of chakra. I'm not surprised that he can do that. Hinata though? She shouldn't be able to make more than one or two without sweating. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't make a single one of those clones." Both Asuma and Kurenai looked at the boy in surprise. The other five fresh genin just took his answer with a ready acceptance that showed they trusted him implicitly.

Asuma and Kurenai shared a quick glance at each other, and got their message across. _How the hell did he figure that out before we did?_

They had to admit, it was impressive how well they were making the Jounin run around. Once it looked like they had him cornered, Kakashi ended the fight in less than a second. Despite hitting Naruto first, Hinata's hit the ground first. None of the genin watching the fight could track what just happened. Kurenai spoke up first. "That irresponsible fool!"

Asuma could only shake his head. "That really was a lot more force than he needed..."

"Ahh...Asuma? Kurenai? Can one of you help me carry these two to the hospital? I think I went too far."

"You think? Are they still alive?" Kurenai's question was less sarcastic and more serious than anyone would have preferred. All the genin were starting to look sick.

"They'll be alright...I hope..."_Hiashi and Jiraya are going to kill me..._

**xxxxx**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews :) Once again, feel free to leave a review telling me what I did well/what I did poorly. If my writing is flawed and no one tells me, I can't fix it. If my writing is awesome, well, who doesn't like getting their ego stroked?  
**

**A few notes: Don't worry, this won't be a brutally overpowered Naruto and Hinata effortlessly crushing all resistance. Except on occasions where it's done for a laugh. **

**I find that most ninja in the Naruto Universe are mentally retarded. There will be a great deal less of that in this fic. Push come to shove, trained shinobi will fight smart. People above genin are going to display more than just a single trick in combat, and instead of curling up in the fetal position when their tricks don't work, they'll improvise, adapt, and die valiantly...err...overcome. Totally meant overcome.**

**Don't bother asking about whether or not Sasuke/Sakura are going to be evil. Events will unfold quite differently from both canon and this own fics crapsack future. So there's plenty of room for ambiguity before irrevocable decisions are made.**

**Lastly, hope you enjoyed the story so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Trial By Fire**

"Kitsune-chan! Uh...what am I doing here?" Naruto stood in a forest at the mouth of a massive cave. The night was clear, with a warm summer breeze. The stars shone brightly in the night sky, with the full moon being low over the horizon. Inside the cave, the Kyuubi laid curled up. She almost looked to be peacefully sleeping until one of her eyes lazily opened. Naruto's mindscape had improved considerably in the past four years, a by-product of his happiness being real instead of a mask to hide the pain.

**"Don't blame me kit. Tell me, what is the last thing you remember?"**

"Hmm...me and Hinata had Kakashi sensei cornered. She slipped a tag on him and grabbed the bell as he ducked under my swing..." Naruto scratched his head, trying to think of what happened after that.

**"Consider it another lesson in the difference between you and a jounin. You couldn't even follow what he did to you. Let us just say, if you weren't my Jinchuuriki, you would be eating through a straw for the next six months. I already set some of my chakra running through your system, about as much as you can handle without causing harm. It'll help you heal even faster than normal. I tell you, regrowing teeth ain't easy. Try not to lose so many of them in the future." **Naruto at least had the decency to blush at her rebuke.

xxxxx

By the time the group got to the hospital, Hinata was starting to wake up. After asking who the pink elephant was, Kurenai discretely removed her weapon pouchs and tantos before passing Hinata off to the waiting medic. "Pink Elephants? Could you have kicked her any harder? What the hell, did you have a flashback to the last war? Did you mistake her for someone from Iwa? Holy shit, how many exploding tags does she carry!"

"Apparently yes, yes, maybe, no comment, and apparently quite a few" Kakashi deadpanned. That really was a lot of exploding tags. Even worse considering how many were used at the training area.

"We're going to have words Kakashi. You can't train fresh genin the way you trained ANBU."

Whatever else Kurenai was about to say was interrupted by the panicked scream of the medic running a diagnostic on Naruto. In his haste to back away from Naruto, the medic tripped over his own feet and fell into Kakashi, screaming about the Kyuubi taking over. In a heartbeat, all three jounin were armed, if completely unsure what to do. The genin of teams eight and ten were joining the medics in panicking, and joining their sensei's in preparing to fight, even if they didn't understand why exactly they were panicking or where the Kyuubi was. Someone on the staff already hit the panic seal, sending a direct emergency alert to the Hokage office.

The panicked standoff of all the ninja vs Naruto's unconscious body ended after a few tense moments with the closest medic lunging for Naruto with scalpel, too close and too fast for any of the jounin to stop him in time. Before he even made it a step, a fox the size of an adult tiger with nine tails smashed him to the ground. Keeping him pinned with one paw, the Kyuubi crouched down and looked at the rest of the Ninja in the room, baring her teeth. Giving a deep growl with a touch of killing intent, even the three jounin backed off. The six genin completed their panic.

"Mmm...you're so soft...nice kitty..."

"HINATA! GET AWAY!" The Kyuubi's growls quickly turned to purring as a delirious Hinata laid against her and was stroking her flank. That was the scene that the Third Hokage, Jiraya, and two squads of ANBU walked into.

Purring for a few more seconds, the Kyuubi gave a startled look at the gathered Ninja. **"Awkward...Can I go back to growling and we can all pretend you didn't watch the mighty Kyuubi, being of UNIMAGINABLE POWER, purr like a kit while being petted?" **Hinata reached up and started scratching the Kyuubi behind her ears, earning her more content purrs **"Mmm...that's the spot. Oh, stop panicking! Silly mortals. If I was going to go on a rampage, you would all be dead already."**

The Hokage was the first one to recover. "Kyuubi-sama, how are you out of the seal? And why is Hinata petting you?"

**"The seal changed four years ago. It is now an open cage, one I have been free to leave at any time, and have done so many times before this. Usually to skip lectures at the academy. I admit though, that I'm most unclear on the circumstances that caused it. As for Hinata, she's petting me because she thinks I'm a giant kitty, and the pink elephant probably told her to. I admit, the Pink Elephant gives good advice."** If the gathered ninja didn't know any better, they'd swear the Kyuubi just shot Kakashi a deadpan expression at the end of that statement. **"If you're not here to hurt Naruto, then you may pet me as well" **Looking at Sakura, she let another another low growl **"Except her."** Seeing no one move to pet her, Kyuubi gave a saddened look. **"Worth a try..."**

"If you aren't breaking out of the seal, or trying to destroy anything, why are you still on one of my medics, and why is Naruto here?" The Kyuubi just gave the Hokage a 'Are you stupid?' look before laughing.

**"Your 'medic', and I use the word loosely, is being punished for attempting to slice Naruto's throat open with a scalpel, because one of your other medics thought Naruto having my chakra in his system meant I was taking over. I really have no idea how Konoha ever rose to prominence. You use me to create a jinchuuriki out of Naruto-sama, then promptly panic at the mere thought of the boy using my power. Fools, all of you. As for why Naruto is here, perhaps Hinata's pink elephant can enlighten us? Well, the pink elephant told me it was a training accident and Kakashi could fill you in on the details. It also said 'Nice Hat'." **Hinata let out a drunken giggle.

The Hokage was afraid of just how much paperwork this day was going to cause. At least the new genin were looking slightly less fearful at the apparently friendly Kyuubi, but this was definitely not how the Hokage wanted them to find out about Naruto's burden.

**"Oh, and Jiraya, can I get a signed copy of the Icha-Icha series? What? Stop looking at me like that Kurenai, they're very well written!"**

"Hokage-sama! It must be a trick! If it had any power, it would have already attacked Konoha! We must kill it before the seal breaks!" The Hokage put his hand on the ANBU's shoulder to hold him back, while the Kyuubi just laughed.

"No. The Kyuubi is right. We've known for four years now that the seal has been opened. Killing Naruto would only result in a five hundred foot tall pissed off demon in the middle of Konoha. The Kyuubi ceased to be a threat to us on that day."

**"I see. Can someone pull Hinata off me? I think she passed out again. Jiraya, Third, we must speak privately."**

"Yes. If anyone has a right to know, it would be you." Glancing to his ANBU "Make sure no one leaves. There will be no rumors of what transpired here."

xxxxx

Hinata woke up to the sight of Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma standing over her. "How you feeling Hinata? Sorry for knocking you out like that..."

"I had the weirdest dream sensei, we were all at the hospital, and there was a pink elephant telling me to pet he large kitty, but it had nine tails. Now that I think about it, it looked like a fox. She was Naruto's, and asked Jiraya for a signed set of the Icha-Icha books..." Her own little perverted giggle was quickly cut off as she winced from her crushing headache.

"Hinata...that wasn't a dream. Well, the pink elephant was, and had us worried, but the rest wasn't...and also has us worried."

"Oh...was that really the Kyuubi?" Kakashi nodded. "Is that why Naruto has a seal on him? Why so many people seem to hate him?" Another nod. "But she was so friendly and loving. Why did she attack twelve years ago?"

"Nobody knows, except her and maybe Naruto."

"Where's Naruto?" Sitting up, Hinata looked around the room. Teams eight and ten were sitting together, looking uncomfortable. Eight ANBU were standing in the room, sealing off the exits. Three medics and a receptionist were sitting together in another part of the room, looking towards a hospital gurney with a look of fear. On the gurney was Naruto, still covered in his own dried blood and untreated.

"She was being controlled, by a man claiming to be Madara. Just as Madara controlled her at the Valley of the End. Hating Kitsune-chan is as meaningless as hating a sword. I'm sorry everyone, this isn't how I wanted to you to find out."

"Naruto! You're alright!" Hinata moved to Naruto so fast, he could have almost swore she just used a jutsu to wrap him in a hug, ignoring the dried blood. "I'm sorry! If I was stronger, you wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"You're not mad at me? For hiding Kitsune-chan? For being a Jinchuuriki?"

"Why would I hate you for hiding it Naruto? I've known you've always hidden why the village hates you, so why would I hate you just for finding out?"

Sitting up, Naruto finally realized how big of an audience he had. Sakura looked at him with both fear and disgust. There was a great deal more fear than disgust however. No surprise, they barely tolerated each other for the most part. Ino looked somewhat fearful,but didn't look to be drawing away. Shino was as unreadable as ever. Kiba was just looking depressed. _Probably thinks he'll never prove himself the alpha over someone with the Kyuubi. Kiba, don't ever change._ Choji looked more concerned than anything, though there was the hint of fear behind his eyes too. Shikamaru just sat there, eyes closed, in his usual thinking pose, before looking up at Naruto.

"I don't see how this changes anything. If you were a danger to us, you would have hurt us long ago. Considering how often we've all been to your place, and our parents never seemed to have any problems with it, it's safe to say that all our clans know your secret, and don't hate you for it. Why should we? You're still the same idiot you were this morning." That simple statement from Shikamaru changed the atmosphere completely. The fear in the room seemed to subdue almost instantly as the young genin thought over his words.

The three jounin present smiled at the reaction, trying very hard to ignore the fact that all three thought the worst a few minutes ago.

Naruto just hugged Hinata closer to himself. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he looked at the gathered genin and tried to hold back his tears. His freinds knew, and they didn't hate him.

xxxxx

**"I see. These revelations are...disturbing. They explain much as well. Jiraya, I trust you and Kakashi to train the kit well. Him and his mate. Even the mightiest Jinchuuriki needs one to watch their back. The kit is her source of strength. Gives her the strength she will need to help him."**

"I understand Kyuubi-sama. Wait, mate? Aren't they a bit young?"

**"They may not be fully re-enacting your books, but make no mistake. They have chosen each other as mates. More fully than most humans ever do. I will be on my way. Perhaps next time we chat, it will be for pleasantries."**

After the fox disappeared, Jiraya looked over to the Hokage. "Sensei, I'm afraid we can't put it off much longer. I'm going to have to take him as an apprentice soon. I'd like him to have some more experience under his belt first. If those two pushed Kakashi that far, they're more than ready to start C-rank missions. After this next chuunin exam, I'll take them both with me. I'd like to teach them a few things before I leave again however."

"I may as well repeal the law about the Kyuubi. There's no point in trying to keep such a poorly kept secret any longer."

xxxxx

Much to the releif of the Hokage and Jiraya, when they rejoined the rest of group, the genin weren't looking at Naruto with real fear anymore. There was still a bit, but even more, there was acceptance. Hinata looked to be glued to the poor boy as well.

"Hokage-Sama?" Everyone turned to look at the Hokage after Kakashi addressed him.

"It's alright Kakashi. We've known for a while. We couldn't be truly certain, but it's as the Kyuubi said. The seal has been open since before Naruto started the academy. She is no threat to Konoha. Unless Konoha chooses to make her one." That last sentence was spoken while delivering a glare to the medics. "Kurenai, Asuma, I believe your teams should be training right now?" Teams eight and ten knew a dismissal when they heard it and didn't waste much time leaving, even if they weren't sure just how much training they would get done after the events of the morning so far.

"Hey gaki, how you feeling?"

"I feel like I got into a fight with a jounin. I think my ribs are still broken."

"Hahahaha. Consider it a lesson. Time for another one. I'll be leaving again in a few days, and there's something I want to pass on to you two before then." Turning to Kakashi, Jiraya gave the man a shrug as if to say sorry before turning back to the two genin. "You two look well enough to start. You know what they say, if you ain't bleeding, you ain't training. Today, you two get to learn..." With a quick bite of his thumb, Jiraya went through a few hand seals before slamming his hand to the ground "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!"

Looking up at Jiraya standing on the large toad, Kakashi shakes his head. "Jiraya...maybe a hospital isn't the best place to teach them to summon...?"

xxxxx

The next couple days before Jiraya had to leave again were busy for team seven. Through practice, the Naruto was able to summon Gama, a man-sized toad wearing samurai armor. Hinata was able to consistently summon Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, two much smaller toads. They wouldn't be much use in a fight, but they could scout or relay messages quite well. Between summoning training, Kakashi was driving Naruto hard with kenjutsu and taijutsu training, while he had a shadow clone pushing Hinata in her taijutsu training. Finally, the day they were scheduled to begin their first mission arrived. Team seven took the morning to train, holding off on grabbing a mission until after lunch.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei! What kind of mission are we going to do today? Rescue a princess? Storm a castle? Overthrow an oppressive regime? Guard a noble? Find lost treasure?"

Catching the scroll the chuunin on duty at the assignment desk tossed him, Kakashi took a moment to read it before looking at his genin. "This is a very important mission. Are you two absolutely sure you're ready to be shinobi? After this mission, there is no going back. Your innocence will be lost, and you will never look at the world the same again."

Naruto and Hinata quickly came to attention and shouted in unison. "Hai sensei! We're ready!"

"Good! Our mission today is to pick up the garbage in training area forty-three!" The chuunin at the assignment desk couldn't hold it in anymore, and was laughing at the poor genin as their hopes were crushed in one fell swoop.

"WHAT! Don't we pay people to do stuff like that!"

"Yes. We do Naruto. They're called 'genin'."

"My innocence...it's gone..."

"Hey guys! What did you get for a mission?" Kiba came running up, followed by Shino, nodding his head in greeting, and Sakura who was carrying a large cat. "We had to track down a cat. Can you believe it? Someone hired ninja to track down a cat! Damn thing took hours to find too!"

The chuunin at the desk was laughing again. He loved his job, he really did. There was nothing more entertaining than watching new teams with their first missions. Tora, the cat, was well known among the more experiences genin. It's spent the past five years running from ninja, and picked up quite a few tricks as a result. They've even joked about giving it an honorary genin rank due to how many teams have completely failed to track him.

"Would you believe me if I said we're storming a castle to save a princess and overthrow an oppressive regime and finding a lost treasure?"

"No."

"Oh. In that case, we're cleaning training area forty-three." Naruto finished with a sigh while Hinata put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on Naruto-kun. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get back to training." Waving bye, team seven made their way to the training area they were supposed to clean up. Garbage was everywhere. Kakashi just leaned against a tree, and pulled out an Icha-Icha book.

"Well, get to work."

"Right...as you said Hinata. The sooner we finish..." Sharing a nod and a smile, the two got to work. "Fūton: Daitoppa!" Scaling down the power of the great breakthrough wind technique, Naruto was pushing the garbage along. It wasn't neat, but it was starting to pile it up.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" From the other side, Hinata was doing the same, but with a wave of water she was shooting from her mouth. Naruto had shadow clones going along to grab what the two of them together missed. Once they finally managed to get everything gathered, they were at a loss of what to do.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!" With no better idea, Naruto summoned Gama. "Hey, Gama! Can we get a hand with this? We're gonna burn this pile of garbage." With a croak, Gama turned to the pile before spitting a steady stream of oil at it. Naruto lit one of his explosive tags and tossed it into the stream, igniting it into a blazing inferno that incinerated the pile of garbage. It also left a great deal of the training area on fire.

"Good job Naruto, Hinata. Now stop the fire before you burn down Konoha." Kakashi didn't even look up from his book.

"Oops..." _That gives me an idea. I got something for your smug ass..._

xxxxx

Iruka, who joined the chuunin at the assignment desk, was staring at the mission report in disbelief. "Kakashi, this can't be right. That was a D-rank mission!"

A slightly singed Kakashi just shrugged, for once not reading reading his book. "It's right." The glare at the two genin didn't go unnoticed.

"Well...this is definitely one for the ridiculous feat list. Most jutsu ever used in a D-rank, most property damage ever done in a D-rank, use of a summoning jutsu in D-rank, first use of a biju in a D-rank, did you really use the Kyuubi to power up a wind release jutsu to fight a FIRE!"

"...Uh yea, lets go with that..." _Almost had Kakashi's book with that too..._

"Use of a water/wind combination jutsu in a D-rank, AND setting your sensei on fire in a D-rank. I'm not sure sure if this belongs in a hall of fame or a hall of shame..."

Kakashi gave a slight shudder. "Fire...so much fire..." Naruto's smirk went unnoticed by both the jounin and the chuunin. _Now to get another excuse to set him on fire..._

Naruto was covered from head to toe in soot. Hinata was leaning against him, her excessive use of jutsu in fighting the fire having taken it's toll on her. "Iruka-sensei, we're ready for another mission!" Even the most cursory inspection of the team made it obvious that Naruto's statement was pure bravado, but orders were orders, no matter how much Iruka disagreed with them.

The other chuunin threw another scroll at Kakashi, whose eyes widened as soon as he saw the large C on it. "Already?"

"The Hokage left this mission here for you team in specific. I think it's too early, but he wanted your team to move up to C-rank missions after your first D-rank. He has faith that your team can complete the mission. You're expected to leave for it tomorrow, so you have tonight to get ready for it."

Taking a minute to read the scroll, Kakashi looked at his genin. "Last time I was joking, this time I'm not. This will be your first true mission as shinobi. This mission is the true turning point of your lives. Pack for a two week trip, and this will be a combat mission. We leave tomorrow at dawn. There has been reports of banditry between Fire country and Wave country. Not too bad for your first C-rank."

"Naruto, Hinata, take care. You proved graduation night that you have what it takes to be fine shinobi of the leaf. Good luck out there." Iruka was torn. On one hand, he knew they were ready for combat. On the other hand, he couldn't help but see Naruto and Hinata, his academy students.

"Don't worry Iruka-sensei. We'll be back before you know it!"

xxxxx

Naruto and Hinata were rummaging through Naruto's apartment, trying to decide what to take for equipment, while the Kyuubi was laying on Naruto's bed, reading her own copy of Icha-Icha paradise, signed personally to her by Jiraya. Hinata had shown up with a pair of black sleeveless tactical vests. They weren't armored like the chuunin flak vests, but they provided much needed storage space, having six scroll pouches in each side of the chest, along with two general use pockets.

Currently, they were going through Naruto's seal scrolls, and tag collection. The storage shelf had several scroll sections labeled. Fire, Water, Oil, Mud, Shield, General Storage. The general storage scrolls just had your standard storage seals. The Fire, Water, Oil, and Mud scrolls had far more specific seals on them, greatly increasing their storage, but limiting just what can be sealed in them. The shield scroll was something a bit special. It was a completely custom piece. It was so far his first and only success at creating a fire and forget defensive shield with fuuinjutsu. Oh, he could make a defensive barrier any day of the week. Anyone with half decent sealing skills could. But you have to constantly pour energy into them, and can't really do anything else while holding it up. They also took several people to make one of any decent effectiveness. Anything worthwhile that could be done solo was still beyond his sealing abilities. More importantly though, these shields could be used by anyone, much like an exploding tag. The downside was, they were extremely short lived. It was a few seconds of protection, but as any shinobi knows, a few seconds is a long time in a battle.

The next section of the storage shelf for his seals held the tags he's been making ever since he could. He had so far managed to create a decent variety of specialized tags. In addition to the standard exploding tags, he had shrapnel tags that would shoot metal shrapnel when they blew, cutting tags which were just directional powered-down exploding tags for cutting through doors or walls without serious risk to people on the other side, and spalling tags which were essentially the opposite of cutting tags, designed to turn a wall into as much shrapnel as possible with a directional concussion blast.

Naruto took two of each scroll for himself, and passed two of each to Hinata. Once again, Hinata ended up taking the lion share of his exploding tags, while they evenly split the specialty tags, not having many of them to begin with. Using the sealing scrolls, the sealed their travel packs, rations, several extra canteens, and a few extra blades. After all, the one thing you can reliably do with a standard blade as a ninja is break it. Standards blades just aren't strong enough to handle the stress of ninja-combat, long term, which made chakra blades highly sought after by any dedicated kenjutsu user, which in turn, made them hideously expensive and rare. Most chakra blades these days were acquired from dead ninja or samurai, not bought.

Finished packing for the upcoming missions, Naruto slipped his arms around Hinata and lightly brushed her neck with his lips. "Hinata-chan, you need a shower. Almost as much as I do."

Giggling, Hinata smashed her elbow into Naruto's ribs. "Is that so Naruto-kun? I think you're just trying to get me naked. In that case, I get the first shower." Smiling back Naruto, she took her shirt off and tossed it at him before heading off to the bathroom. "Feel free to join me Naruto-kun". Soon after, her pants and underwear were tossed out the bathroom as well while Naruto just stood there holding her shirt, trying to decide what to do.

**"You might as well join her kit."**

"We're still too young for that though..."

Looking up from her book, the Kyuubi just raised her eyebrow at him. **"Technically, you're both legally adults. Not only that, you're both Shinobi. How long do you plan on waiting?"**

"I don't know, maybe a few more years?" Naruto said while scratching his head.

**"You have a beautiful woman who just practically threw herself at you here, and you're obviously interested. I don't think you really recognize how dangerous your job is. Odds are very good that one of you two will die by the time you're done waiting. All you're gonna accomplish by waiting is hurting her feelings. Just go for it kit."**

"Naruto-kun? You coming?"

**"If you don't start moving, I'm going to drag you to her myself. Old enough to kill and all that..."**

xxxxx

"You two certainly looked happy this morning. Where are your bags though?" Completely surprising the two genin by showing up on time, Kakashi tried to not laugh when Hinata fell out of Naruto's lap, blushing furiously. He didn't quite succeed.

"We didn't bring bags Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto snapped open one of his scroll pouches and withdrew a scroll. "Our supplies are all sealed up, and we both have an extra storage scroll in case we find something we need to hold on to."

_Of course they sealed their supplies... _"You know, sometimes I forget you two have been training with Jiraya for a while now...however, I still have to check your supplies to make sure you packed properly. Go ahead and start unsealing."

With an indifferent shrug, Naruto and Hinata started unsealing their supplies. They didn't quite take it personally, after all, it's their jounin sensei's job to check, but they still found it annoying. Packing for a trip was basic academy stuff. Going along that line of thought, Naruto could barely suppress a shudder. If checking their packing was something their sensei HAS to do, it's only because fresh genin have proved that something as simple as packing was beyond them. That's probably why the mortality rate for young ninja was so high.

Looking through the what Naruto packed, Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "Naruto, do you really think you'll need this many replacement swords?"

"What kind of question is that Kakashi-sensei? I don't have a chakra blade, so they have a nasty tendency to break after a while. Sure, my arms would probably fall off before I could break THAT many swords, but I'd rather have more than I need than need another blade I don't have."

Kakashi just shook his head. _He doesn't know you can strengthen a normal sword with chakra yet? I wonder how long until he finds out._ After all, Kakashi wanted payback for that firestorm still. "Well, you both seem to be overpacked, but using just a single sealing scroll means you're well prepared instead of burdened. Glad to know I won't have to babysit you two. Lets get going, We'll get a more in-depth briefing when we get there."

Kakashi showed the two chuunin manning the front gate the missions scroll and signed the team out and team seven got on their way. With two genin in tow, even these exceptional two, it would still take a couple days to get to the the coast.

"Alright sensei, what's the plan?"

"First, we meet a Captain Tsurugi and his men. He'll have more complete information when we arrive. This isn't a full extermination mission. We're to take as many prisoners as practical. That means we'll be babysitting the regular soldiers who will take custody of the prisoners. I hope you two are as ready as the Hokage thinks you are, there will be fighting."

xxxxx

Team seven met with Captain Tsurugi at a small military camp. A quick headcount showed forty men plus the good Captain himself. The Captain was quite recognizable from the rest of the men, being the only man with a sword instead of a spear, along with his heavy red armor standing apart from the light blue armor the rank and file wore. His greaves stopped short of his knees, while an armored skirt covered most of his thighs. His chest plate, shoulder guards, and arm guards were made up of overlapping plates. Judging from the number of slices and chipped edges, the armor wasn't just for show.

The meeting with Captain Tsurugi went as they almost always do. The man was relieved to have ninja along but he had appearances to maintain and complained, loudly, at every opportunity. It was an old dog and pony show. Ninja were always glad to have regular soldiers along in any sort of extended campaign. Ninja take territory, soldiers hold and consolidate it, maintain supply lines, and implement the Daimyo's rule. Soldiers on the other hand, loved having ninja along. Someone else does all the heavy fighting, and you sit around and take credit for the success. Sure, there was always some level of jealousy, and as such, soldiers had to pretend ninja were hogging the glory, and ninja had to pretend that soldiers just got in the way. Such rivalries are an ingrained tradition.

"So. You're my ninja team for this? Only three of you? Did your last guy fall out a tree on the way or something?" Captain Tsurugi was an old hand at this game. It was rare for most mid-grade missions to have anything but a four man team assigned. They had to be a pretty solid group if Konoha only sent three.

"Just the three of us Captain. Good to see you again. These two are Naruto and Hinata. Trust me, they're much better than they look."

Captain Tsurugi just shrugged. He learned years ago not to judge a shinobi by looks. He's seen children not even ten yet go through other shinobi like a buzzsaw. Of course, he was honor bound to talk shit to them. "They look a bit young. You sure they can handle this? This isn't something for children. I don't think I'd trust them to walk my dog."

Naruto and Hinata, not used to this sort of interaction exchanged quick glances before Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You do know that the regular starting age of a Shinobi is twelve, right? Many start much earlier than that as well. So really, in a way, it kind of IS something for children."

For the first time he could remember, Captain Tsurugi was legitimately at a loss of what to say. The kid was technically right, but he couldn't admit it. "Right...well, as long as Kakashi here is willing to carry your bodies back, no skin off my nose."

Kakashi cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Yes, well...we should get this started. Do you have any updated information for us?"

Captain Tsurugi unrolled a map on to his table for the ninja. "My scouts have tracked down their base of operations to this valley. You guys built in several supply caches in the area's cave system during the last great war, and we're fairly sure they're using those. They've quite effectively hidden their true numbers. My scouts confirmed at least thirty, and suspect there are more unaccounted for. They're all just regular bandits, no samurai or ninja with them that we know of. Nothing too difficult. Well, maybe too difficult for you and your children. My men will have no difficulties."

Kakashi knew exactly what cave system the captain was talking about. "Great, we'll be done by lunch. Are your men ready to move?" What both leaders knew, and didn't say to each other, was that the cave system is probably the most developed and improved fortification Konoha ever built. It was the command center of the eastern front during the last war, hardened to survive ninja combat. This wasn't going to be fun at all.

"Me and my men have been ready. We'd be done by now if you weren't so slow to get here."

Naruto just rolled his eyes, getting annoyed with the captain. "Whatever old man. Just try to not fall on your sword. I've seen scarier troops of girl scouts." Kakashi, much to his credit, managed to hold in his laughter. Hinata had no such luck.

"You got a loud mouth kid. I like that. Alright Kakashi, lets get this show started. You know the drill. Me and my men march to the valley making as much noise as we can, you and your kids capture or kill anyone we scare up. Once we get to the caves, we'll make it up as we go along. There's likely to be some nasty fighting in there. One last thing...it seems that they've been highly selective of their targets. It's only luck that we even figured out people here have been disappearing. Virtually all the travellers get by unmolested, so they could have been here for quite a while before we even caught a sniff of this operation. They have some sort of objective in mind, but I don't know what."

xxxxx

"Done by lunch he said..." Naruto tossed aside his broken sword. "No samurai he said..." He managed to sidestep the next thrust, barely. "Then why the fuck does this guy's sword GLOW!" Ducking, the sword swipe took off a few tips of hair, then followed through into the wall of cave, effortlessly sliding through the stone.

Quickly going through a few handseals, Naruto jumped forward into the opening and puts his hand on the mans chest. "Fūton: Daitoppa!" The massive burst of wind launched the samurai back into some of his own men, breaking quite a few bones all around. Unfortunately, the samurai never let go of the sword, and the blade snapped, leaving it half embedded in the wall. "Noo! I wanted that sword..."

Turning back to Hinata, Naruto dived just in time for her opponent to smash into the wall by him. "Sorry Naruto-kun, I didn't have time to aim him."

"Well, your family training sure seems to be paying off. I wonder how the other two groups are doing." The ten soldiers following the two genin went about tying up their new prisoners. It wasn't an altogether BAD plan. Well, it was, but it was about as good as could be done with three shinobi, forty soldiers, and the troop commander. Naruto and Hinata took ten soldiers, Kakashi took ten, and Captain Tsurugi took ten, leaving the last ten outside to watch the prisoners. Unfortunately the cave system really needed more people than they had to properly clear out.

**"They're fine kit. If Kakashi ran into something he couldn't handle, you'd know it. Tsurugi is also far more dangerous than he looks. I doubt he's fallen on his sword, or someone elses for that matter."**

"I'm sure they're fine Naruto-kun."

Naruto unsealed another sword and made some shadow clones to help the soldiers subdue the few bandits not too hurt to fight back. Clean up only took a few moments for them, as after fighting those two samurai, resistence crumbled. Much to their credit, they've managed to avoid killing anyone so far. "Alright guys, take five. I'll scout ahead with some shadow clones and make a group to carry back our prisoners. Make sure they're bound tight, your buddies outside are going to be outnumbered pretty soon at this rate." This wasn't the first group they've taken down, though it was the only group to put up notable resistence.

Making another small army of clones, Naruto took a seat as they ran through the cave system. They'd find the next group to take in no time. Hinata just shrugged, before flopping into his lap, her face nearly glowing from her blush as the remaining soldiers began to snicker at the scene. The two sat in companionable silence waiting for the rest of their detachment to return. A quick poke in her side, and Hinata got out of his lap.

"Alright guys, I think I've found...oh...wow...I don't think I'm gonna sleep again anytime soon." Naruto's face lost all color as he turned to Hinata. "Hinata...remind me NOT to piss off the captain. That man scares me. Alright, I've found their main base in here. Lets get moving! The three teams are linking up in five!"

xxxxx

Tsurugi looked at the men in front of him. Three ronin and two low chuunin level shinobi. All five had a smug expression, confident that this wasn't even going to be a fight. Turning his head to his own men, he sighed. "I'll handle them. Stand back men." Turning back, he caught a glance of that loud mouthed brat crawling on roof. _Damn. Shadow clones? No wonder the kid is so cocky. Shouldn't be surprised. They wouldn't send weaklings with a legend like Kakashi._

"You five are under arrest. We can do this the easy way or..." The first ronin charged. He was cut off mid-swing as Tsurugi drew his blade, cutting through the mans sword, arm, and entire body. A quick spin to conserve his momentum while closing the distance to the second man, and his next swing took both the mans arms. Reaching out, he grabbed the third ronin and threw him towards the first shinobi to block a lightning spear. The fried body lost enough moment that the shinobi had no problem getting out the way in time. Another quick swing of his sword, and the fireball the other shinobi fired off was bisected, splashing harmlessly into the walls.

"The hard way it is." Neither of the chuunin were prepared to fight a full blown high level first one turned to run...and ran right into Naruto's clone. Or, more specifically, the butt of the clones sword. The second turned to ran, and didn't even make it a step before crashing to the ground, his legs both removed just above the knee.

Wiping his sword off, Tsurugi nodded to the boy. "Not too bad. Managed to keep three of them alive. Be on your guard, this is something much bigger than we thought. They have far too much combat power here to be simple bandits."

"Tsurugi, I found what looks like their main base in here. About 600 feet down this tunnel. Be careful it's heavily fortified. I have a set of clones looking for Kakashi-sensei to notify him."

_Set of clones..? Great, I think I'm looking at the next Itachi if he can make SETS of shadow clones...hopefully this one doesn't freak out and kill his entire clan._"Alright. How far is your team?"

"The men escorting our prisoners back should return soon. After that, we're about three minutes out. Call it five minutes until we can link up." The boy paused for a moment. "Kakashi-sensei says he'll be there in five minutes as well." With that, the boy dispelled.

xxxxx

Naruto and Hinata were the first to arrive to the central chamber. By now, most of Naruto's clones had dispelled, giving him a good idea of the cave systems layout. There were a few more such areas, but all were abandoned. All said and done, the entire military command of a hidden village could move into this cave system and have room left over. At the far end of the chamber, the way forward was blocked with what looked to be the most formidable wall Naruto ever saw. Unlike the wall around Konoha, this one you couldn't go over as it went to the ceiling. The firing slits left an excellent field of fire for defending archers, and showed just how thick the wall was.

"There are twenty archers manning the wall Naruto-kun. Behind them are three more. Judging by their chakra systems, they're shinobi. One looks to be high jounin in strength."

Kakashi and Tsurugi arrived in time to hear. Neither found it to be an ideal situation, but it was hardly insurmountable, but definitely not ideal. This was now quite officially an A-rank mission. "Naruto, since you're always full of surprises, you got any ideas for getting through the wall easily?" Kakashi didn't really need help. He could just use his chidori to blow through the armored door, and wouldn't have any issues avoiding the archers, but he wanted to get Naruto and Hinata involved. Treating them like genin would be a waste of everyone's time.

Naruto frowned for a moment in thought before smiling. "I got just the thing sensei." Making twenty clones, Naruto pulled out his five spalling tags and passed them out to his clones. The extra fifteen drew swords and took up guarding positions, three to a tag carrier. _Note to self: Find way to add in Kyuubi-chan's chakra to exploding tags._ The five carriers channeled a small trickle of chakra to the tags, expanding them back to their original size. Kakashi and Tsurugi both sweat dropped at the sight of the massive tags, being almost as big as Naruto. Hinata looked at the massive tags with lust.

As the five teams took off to breach the wall, Naruto nodded to Hinata and both started throwing explosive tag laden kunai at the wall. The resulting waves of explosions barely scratched the wall, but it achieved it's objective. The arrow fire from the wall cut off almost immediately, and the explosions obscured the vision of the defenders. "Note to self: Invent smoke bomb tags."

Of the twenty clones, seventeen survived to make it to the wall. Two tags went to the left side, two went to the right side, and the last tag went directly over the door. Not having any cover, the clones just detonated them all as soon the last tag was placed. The tag on the door turned the armored slab into pure shrapnel, while the four tags on the wall itself didn't seem to have much effect at all on the wall, despite the massive explosions, big enough that most the waiting soldiers got knocked down. Since the explosion was concentrated almost purely straight into the wall as a concussive blast, quite a few of the clones survived, and immediately started pouring through the door.

Without catching Hinata's wince, Kakashi looked to Naruto. "Well, the doors open, but you didn't even scratch the wall." Naruto just shrugged. He didn't think the tags would be able to take down the wall, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to see the other side of it. The look on Hinata's face told him he was quite right. The sights he got from a dispelled clone were enough to make him sick. Naruto didn't waste any time in emptying the contents of his stomach.

"Ano...Kakashi-sensei, all the bandits are dead. Only the three shinobi in the back are alive."

xxxxx

The three shinobi were in a small huddle in the back. The two younger were obviously twins, and the older one was a brother as well. "Alright brothers. Once they get caught into that killing field, we'll move in and cut them down. This mission is officially scrapped. He knew we couldn't operate here indefinitely, so we already have our next area of operations identified." Once the first arrow was loosed, the three brothers looked to the wall. A few more arrows were loosed before the archers started ducking and yelling. A couple kunai sailed through the windows, exploding harmlessly. A great deal more exploded at the wall.

"Shit! I can't see!"

"Everyone alright?"

"casualties?"

"None sir! We have no visibility though!"

"We got an injury over here!"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine! Don't let them get close!"

"THEY'RE AT THE WALL!

The three brothers watched at the door disappeared into a flurry of shrapnel. Wasting no time, all three dropped to the floor as the entire wall seemed to explode inward. Most the men didn't even live long enough to scream. Body parts were strewn all across the area, blood splattered everywhere. Having never seen a true Shinobi war, all three paused for a moment at the gruesome sight. The only thing that saved them when the small swarm of shadow clones charged in was the fact that the shadow clones all stopped a the sight as well. One of the clones even managed to throw up, which oddly enough dispelled it.

Getting back to the matter at hand, the remaining clones drew their swords. "Surrender. You're trapped and injured. You can't fight your way out."

The eldest brother took stock of his situation, and disagreed with the young mans assessment. Their injuries were really quite minor, and they weren't exactly weak pushovers. "I don't think so. Before I kill you, whats your name?"

The Naruto clones replied as one. "We are Legion!" As one, the two groups charged each other, except for one clone remaining by the door, leaving two clones per enemy. The Eldest brother quickly cut through both of his clones, while the younger two seemed to be struggling. _Guess he isn't just all talk, but still not good enough to stop me._

Instead of immediately pursuing the last clone, he went to the aid of his brothers. The fight didn't even last thirty seconds. "You'll have to do better than that to stop the Daisuke brothers!" Flicking his headband, which showed a slashed through symbol for Kumogakure. "We'll show you true swordsmanship."

All three brothers rolled up their left sleeve, revealing a seal on their arms. With a swipe of a thumb, all three unsealed their swords.

The last clone bolted out the door with all three hot on his heels.

xxxxx

Wiping his mouth, Naruto pointed to the open doorway. "I'm drawing them out, lets finish this." His clone bolted back out, with all three of the enemy ninja chasing him. Once in the open, they started throwing jutsu at him as well. One of the twins stomped the ground, shooting up a large rock to head height. A chakra infused punch later, and a stone spike was shot at the clone, who barely dodged it.

Turning, the clone threw his sword into the ground, grounding an arc of lighting the other twin shot at him. The follow up fireball was too big for him to dodge, dispelling the clone in a puff of smoke. The three brothers, and looked around for the real one, noticing a small group of clones have cut them off from retreating back through the door.

"Ah. The Daisuke brothers. No one has seen you in five years. I do beleive you three have the dubious distinction of being the weakest shinobi to ever make the bingo book."

The eldest brother looked at Kakashi, along with the two kids next to him and the troop captain behind them. "Ah, Copy Ninja Kakashi. I'm afraid it's as you said, five years ago when we first went missing-nin, we were the weakest shinobi to get put into a bingo book. That was five years ago however. We're honored, to have such a man sent after us. Brothers, why don't you take the two kids, I'll take Kakashi."

Tsurugi just shrugged. "Guess I'll sit this one out then. Lets see if your kids are as good as you think they are."

"I am Kaneda Daisuke, eldest of the Daisuke brothers. Prepare yourself Kakashi." With that small pronouncement, the man disappeared. Kakashi's eye widened for a moment before he had a Kunai held up, barely managing to block a sword swing that sent him sliding back a good ten feet. Both Naruto and Hinata broke off to their seperate sides, avoiding the opening attacks from the twins.

"I see. You truly do deserve a much better ranking you've been given." Moving to lift his headband, Kakashi took a foot to the face, and nearly lost his head to a slash, ducking under it just in time. The follow up strike bisected the log that replaced Kakashi.

Finally having opened the distance, he wasted no time raising his headband, bringing his Sharingan into play.

xxxxx

"Uh, dude, your twin is so screwed." So far, Naruto was managing to hold his own against his attacker. Other than the occasional lightning Jutsu, the guy just wasn't that good. Blocking another sword strike, Naruto smiled at him. "No, seriously. He doesn't know what he's messing with." Several explosions and loud cursing punctuated his statement.

Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Naruto smashed his leg into the man's sword arm, managing to knock the weapon out of his hands. Following up with a thrust, the man avoided the strike and managed to return the favor, bringing his knee into Naruto's wrist, breaking his grip in the sword.

Not letting that slow him, Naruto stepped in striking, managing to slip into his guard. Once in, Naruto became a quick flurry of knee's and elbows. His strikes quickly drove the man back, staggering him. Naruto planted his left hand on the man's chest before he could disengage and open the range back up. Channeling chakra, his hand stuck to the man's chest. Pulling himself in, Naruto smashed his elbow across his jaw, then smashed it again into his nose on the return swing, finally staggering the man enough to drop him to the ground. In return, Naruto ended up taking an elbow across the face, managing to break his grip, and rolling him off.

A few more explosions rang out, along with more screaming and cussing. Shaking his head, Naruto grabbed his sword from the ground and moved to end the fight. Unable to see clearly through the blood covering his eyes from the blonde's vicious assault, Naruto's opponent wasn't able to block or dodge in time, take a shallow slash across the mans chest. Managing to barely open the range, he flashed through hand seals, and put everything he had left into his jutsu. As Naruto's Sword sunk hilt deep into his chest, he smiled as he grabbed Naruto. "Raiton: Jibashi!" Naruto let out a scream as arcs of lighting began to course across his body for a few second.

As the technique ended, both Naruto and the twin collapsed to the ground. "Heh..you're still alive?" The man looked over to Naruto who was already struggling back to his feet, nasty burns covering most of his exposed skin. Opening his vest, he smirked up at the injured genin, whose eyes went wide when he saw the massive set of exploding tags. "Boom."

xxxxx

"WHAT THE HELL YOU CRAZY BITCH!" Rolling back to his feet, he was quite unsure how much longer he could keep moving for. The constant explosions were taking a hell of a toll on his body. Everytime he closed the distance, the Hyuuga girl came within millimeters of ending his life. Everytime he opened the distance, exploding tags came within millimeters of ending his life. "THIS IS JUST REDICULOUS! HOW MANY OF THOSE DO YOU CARRY!"

Moving through his hand seals, he smashed his hand on the ground, shooting spike into the girl...who effortlessly weaved through each spike before sending another wave of kunai and exploding tags before she ducked. _Why would she duck...? _

The next wave of explosions, unlike the previous waves, shot out chunks of metal shrapnel along with the explosion. He never had a chance. As he dropped to floor, slowly bleeding out, a giant explosion caught Hinata's attention.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata screamed as the boy was engulfed. Not even he could survive that! Movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention, as the man she was fighting just ripped open his vest as well. "I'll see you soon, brother.." Eyes widening, she reached for her chest, pulling out a scroll from it's pouch. Ripping it open, a barrier hummed to life as the world around exploded in fury. The barrier held for a few seconds, before the hum quieted, and the barrier dropped. Even as the smoke from the massive explosion began to clear, she was still holding the scroll in a death grip. She stood there in shock for nearly a minute before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Turning her head, she saw Naruto standing by her. His lips were moving, but she couldn't hear him speaking. She couldn't hear anything.

xxxxx

Kaneda wasn't doing too well either. He already heard the back to back explosions from both his brothers setting off their suicide charges. Kakashi was quickly overpowering him as well. That Sharingan gave him far too much of an advantage to work through. Oh, he knicked him a couple of times, and in return Kaneda had taken a hell of a beating.

"Heh. Guess the Daisuke brothers were never meant to amount to anything, eh?" He had to admit, that mass of blue lighting Kakashi had in his hands was looking dangerous. Hopping back to open the distance, he went to open his vest, knowing full well exactly what Kakashi's Chidori was about to do to him. That was when the ground behind him erupted, with a shadow clone of Kakashi coming from it. Kakashi's arms went under his own, before linking up behind his head, effectively pinning him and keeping him from activating his suicide charge.

"It's over." The real Kakashi move in a flash, and plunged his hand right through the heart...of the log and his shadow clone. _I bet this is what Naruto and Hinata felt like when we fought..._

"You're right. It is over for now. Next time you see me, I WILL avenge my brothers!" That was when Kakashi noticed the log had the suicide vest on it. _"Tch. Like you can outlog me!" _

Kakashi appeared next to both his genin as his replacement log was annihilated. "Maa...he uses almost as many explosive tags as you two do. He's definitely long gone by now."

"Kakashi! I think Hinata's lost her hearing!" Hinata was sobbing into Naruto's chest, nearly crushing him in her grip.

Looking down, Kakashi gave one of his trademarked eye smiles. "Don't worry Naruto, it'll return. If not, then they can fix it up at the hospital. I've lost my hearing more times than I can count." _You know, Rin did the same thing the first time she thought I got myself killed...At least Hinata is lucky enough that the love of her life returns her feelings._ "Anyways, I don't think we're going to catch up to him. I'll go see if I can find any documents, or anything else to tell us why they needed such a large force here. Why don't you two join up with the men outside, and help guard all the prisoners. I'll take a few with me to look for anything of interest."

xxxxx

Kakashi, Captain Tsurugi, and few of his men were picking through the mess. What was left of the defenders even sickened Kakashi. "I can see why Naruto threw up when his clones started dispelling. I didn't expect anything this bad."

"You know Kakashi, if those two weren't so painfully green, I'd think they were ANBU. The way the Hyuuga broke down crying after her fight, she obviously isn't very experienced at all. They almost act like Academy graduates, but fight like veterans. Both of them came out of those explosions that should have killed them without a scratch too. What's their story?"

Digging through what remained of a bandit looking for documents, Kakashi smiled. "They just graduated from the academy actually. They're my first genin team, and this is our second mission."

That was more than enough to break Tsurugi's stoic demeanor. "They're fresh graduates! What the hell are you guys feeding your kids!"

Despite the messy scenery, Kakashi couldn't suppress his laughter. "Those two train with Jiraya whenever he's in town. He's never in town very long, unfortunately, otherwise they'd both be stronger than me by now. As it is, I'd say both are at least mid-chuunin level."

"So how did you end up with two genin instead of three? And don't think I didn't see that kid regenerate from those burns either. I'll bet he's fully healed before we get out of here."

"It probably has a lot to do with how good those two are. If you stuck a fresh academy graduate with those two, nothing good could possible happen. A more experience ninja would be able to adapt to the team, but a fresh graduate would drag the entire team down. They were already a team long before graduating."

"So if I heard you right, I'm about to get rich by betting on them during the next chuunin exam?"

"With luck we can do the bare minimum of missions, to up the odds. Hopefully my cute little genin will be longshot odds the entire way. Hopefully no one notices all the top jounin betting on those two."

"Well, these guys seem to have nothing. Lets check the back office."

xxxxx

Leaving the caves, Kakashi and Tsurugi caught up with the rest of the troops. Hinata and half the troops were resting, most of them asleep, while Naruto and the other half stood guard. "Kakashi-sensei! Find anything?"

"Found plenty of documents. Not much in the way of stolen goods though. It seems they were targetting people to kill. They weren't bandits. We'll need to pass this off to the cryptanalysis squad though. How's Hinata?"

"She's sleeping right now. She still couldn't hear when she went to sleep."

"Alright. Wake her up. We're done here. Tsurugi and his men can finish up, we're on our way back to Konoha. The sooner we get back, the sooner we can get answers to what these people were doing. And Naruto? You two did well today. This was well above the C-rank mission it was supposed to be. I'm proud of you two."

xxxxx

**A/N: Yea yea, I'm LAZY and took forever to update. Sorry :p Hope you enjoyed the read! Critiques and reviews appreciated. If you don't tell me how I suck, I can't fix the problems after all. Hopefully in the future I can keep up a faster pace for updates :)**


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